Microfluidic encapsulation of droplet assemblies

We demonstrate the repeatable, precision generation of bespoke, multicore microcapsules, based on a double emulsion encapsulation, by using a novel variant of a flow focusing junction, where bifurcating side-ducts were incorporated. Microcapsules with up to 15 inner cores could be repeatedly fabricated. The morphology of the polymeric capsules could be precisely controlled and the number of inner core droplets was controllable by varying the dispersed phase flow rate. Numerical 3-D simulations were conducted to study the dynamic droplet breakup process. Such multi-core capsules have many potential applications in synthetic biology and biochemical computing