Leidenfrost Effect-Induced Chaotic Vortex Flow for Efficient Mixing of Highly Viscous Droplets

Minjie Liu, Bingqiang Ji, Chaoqun Dang, Fuwang Zhao, Chao Zhang, Yuankai Jin, Mengnan Jiang, Yang Lu, Hui Tang, Steven Wang, Zuankai Wang

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Efficiently mixing highly viscous liquids in microfluidic systems is appealing for green chemistry such as chemical synthesis and catalysis, but it is a long-standing challenge owing to the unfavorable diffusion kinetics. In this work, a new strategy is explored for mixing viscous droplets by harnessing a peculiar Leidenfrost state, where the substrate temperature is above the boiling point of the liquid without apparent liquid evaporation. Compared to the control experiment where the droplet stays at a similar temperature but in the contact boiling regime, the mixing time can be reduced significantly. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the liquid mixing originates from the chaotic convection flow in the Leidenfrost droplet, characterized by the internal vortex motion evidenced by the microscale visualization. A correlation between mixing time and droplet volume is also proposed, showing a good agreement with experimental results. It is further shown that Leidenfrost droplets can be used to synthesize nanoparticles of the desired morphology, and it is anticipated that this simple and scalable fabrication approach will find applications in the biological, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2409192
JournalAdvanced Materials
Volume36
Issue number40
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Oct 2024

Keywords

  • Leidenfrost-effect
  • mixing
  • nanomaterials
  • vortex flow

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science
  • Mechanics of Materials
  • Mechanical Engineering

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