Our research in microfluidics aims at exploring the capabilities of lab-on-a-chips, i.e. developing chemical or biological processing at small-scale. Our activity is thus organised around the miniaturization of physico-chemical unit operations, such as liquid/liquid separation by membrane pervaporation [1,6], continuous flow crystallisation [2,12,13,16,17,19], including the coupling with flow chemistry [15], and bubble dissolution in bubbly flow regime [3,4,10]. Integrating one or several of these unit operations should lead to innovative and competing lab-on-a-chip devices for the fields of fine chemistry, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.
Bubbles and droplets are elementary components in microfluidics and deserve a special attention as they are widely used in two-phase microfluidic applications. Therefore, modelling and predicting their dynamics in microchannels is of utmost importance. We thus investigate on the one hand the dynamics of confined (Taylor) bubbles, and especially the influence of buoyancy [7] and dewetting [8] on the lubrication film, having developed to that purpose an original method to measure its thickness based on a single bright field image [14]. On the other hand, we study the dynamics of unconfined bubbles in microchannels, paying a special attention to the inertial and capillary migration forces [9], as well as to the role of surfactants [11].
We also have developed a unique droplet generator, referred to as the Raydrop, enforcing the dripping mode in a non-embedded co-flow-focusing configuration, thus allowing for high throughput [18]. This droplet generator does not require surface treatment so any type of emulsification can be obtained with this device, such as oil in water, water in oil, bubbles or even partially miscible emulsions needed for micro-encapsulation applications.
Applications to life sciences are also investigated such as cell/cell adhesion in micro channels [5], capillary self-alignement for micro-assembly [20], micro encapsulation of proteins or single-cell analysis and sorting [ongoing researches].
[20] Chafaï A., Vitry Y., Dehaeck S., Gallaire F., Scheid B., Colinet P. & Lambert P., 2D dynamical motion modelling of self-alignment for micro-assembly, Journal of Fluid Mechanics 910, A6 (2021)
[19] Debuysschère R., Siconolfi L., Rimez B., Gallaire F. & Scheid B., Influence of the inlet velocity profile on the flow stability in a symmetric channel expansion, Journal of Fluid Mechanics 909, A13 (2021)
[18] Dewandre D., Rivero-Rodriguez J., Vitry Y., Sobac B. & Scheid B.,Microfluidic droplet generation based on non-embedded co-flow-focusing using 3D printed nozzle, Scientific Reports 10, 21616 (2020)
[17] Rimez B., Debuysschère R. & Scheid B., On the Effect of Flow Restrictions on the Nucleation Behavior of Molecules in Tubular Flow Nucleators, Journal of Flow Chemistry 10, 241-249 (2020)
[16] Rimez B., Septavaux J., Debuysschère R. & Scheid B., The creation and testing of a fully continuous tubular crystallization device suited for incorporation into flow chemistry setups, Journal of Flow Chemistry 9, 237-249 (2019)
[15] Rimez B., Septavaux J. & Scheid B., The coupling of in-flow reaction with continuous flow seedless tubular crystallization, Reaction Chemistry & Engineering 4, 516-522 (2019)
[14] Atasi O., Haut B., Dehaeck S., Dewandre A., Legendre D. & Scheid B., How to measure the thickness of a lubrication film in a pancake bubble with a single bright-field image?, Applied Physics Letters 113, 173701 (Editor’s pick) (2018)
[13] Rimez B., Conté J., Norrant E., Cognet P., Gourdon C. & Scheid B., Continuous-Flow Tubular Crystallization to Discriminate between Two Competing Crystal Polymorphs. Part II: anti solvent crystallisation, Crystal Growth & Design 18, 6440–6447 (2018)
[12] Rimez B., Debuysschère R., Conté J., Norrant E., Cognet P., Gourdon C. & Scheid B., Continuous-Flow Tubular Crystallization to Discriminate between Two Competing Crystal Polymorphs. Part I: cooling crystallisation, Crystal Growth & Design 18, 6431–6439 (2018)
[11] Atasi O., Haut B., Pedrono A., Scheid B. & Legendre D., Influence of Soluble Surfactants and Deformation on the Dynamics of Centered Bubbles in Cylindrical Microchannels, Langmuir 34, 10048-10062 (2018)
[10] Rivero-Rodriguez J. & Scheid B., Mass transfer around flowing bubbles in cylindrical microchannels, Journal of Fluid Mechanics 869, 110-142 (2019)
[9] Rivero-Rodriguez J. & Scheid B., Bubble dynamics in microchannels: inertial and capillary migration forces, Journal of Fluid Mechanics 842, 215-247 (2018)
[8] Khodaparast S., Atasi O., Debris A., Scheid B. & Stone H.A., Dewetting of thin liquid films surrounding air bubbles in microchannels, Langmuir 34, 1363-1370 (2018)
[7] Atasi O., Khodaparast S., Scheid B. & Stone H.A., Effect of buoyancy on the motion of a long bubble in a horizontal tube, Physical Review Fluids 2, 094304 (2017)
[6] Ziemecka I., Haut B. & Scheid B., Continuous separation, with microfluidics, of the components of a ternary mixture: from vacuum to purge gas pervaporation, Microfluidics & Nanofluidics 21, 84 (2017)
[5] Petit A.-E., Demotte N., Scheid B., Wildmann C., Bigirimana R., Gordon-Alonso M., Carrasco J., Valitutti S., Godelaine D. & van der Bruggen P., A major secretory defect of tumour-infiltrating T lymphocytes due to galectin impairing LFA-1-mediated synapse completion, Nature Communications 7, 12242 (2016)
[4] Mikaelian D., Haut B. & Scheid B., Bubbly flow and gas-liquid mass transfer in square and circular microchannels for stress-free and rigid interfaces: dissolution model, Microfluidics & Nanofluidics 19, 899-911 (2015)
[3] Mikaelian D., Haut B. & Scheid B., Bubbly flow and gas-liquid mass transfer in square and circular microchannels for stress-free and rigid interfaces: CFD analysis, Microfluidics & Nanofluidics 19, 523-545 (2015)
[2] Rimez B., Haut B. & Scheid B., Development of a continuous “self-seeding” microfluidic crystallization device for active pharmaceutical ingredients, BIWIC 2014 conference, Rouen (France) (2015)
[1] Ziemecka, I., Haut B. & Scheid B., Hydrogen peroxide concentration by pervaporation of a ternary liquid solution in microfluidics, Lab on a chip 15, 504 (2015)