Synthesis of phospholipid vesicles using an electrokinetic turbulent microreactor

Abstract

Microfluidic-based material synthesis is uniquely suited for the fabrication of reproducible and controllable products due to the highly controlled reaction environments in microscale dimensions. With many passive and active micromixers emerging for the on-chip material synthesis needs, the use of electrokinetic driven fluid to form turbulence actuation is yet an unexplored technique with much-unrealized potential. In this study, we used an electrokinetic turbulent micromixer for the controllable synthesis of phospholipid vesicles by nanoprecipitation. By imposing a transverse electric field upon coflowing reagent-containing solvent and antisolvent streams, the two fluids experience rapid mixing with bilayer lipid fragments generated. Phospholipid vesicles are facilitated under the effect of the electric field and turbulent flow. Depending on the voltage of the AC electric field, concentrations and types of phospholipids, and flow parameters, phospholipid vesicles of different sizes and morphologies can be synthesized in a single microfluidic chip, rather than a complex batch process in traditional methods. The time is no more than even a single second. The method is compatible for integration into a platform to produce phospholipid vesicles for chemistry and biomedical applications.