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Materials Science and Engineering
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Polymer Science and Engineering Department Faculty Publication Series
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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Functional Droplets That Recognize, Collect, And Transport Debris On Surfaces, Ying Bai, Chia-Chih Chang, Umesh Choudhary, Irem Bolukbasi, Alfred J. Crosby, Todd Emrick
Functional Droplets That Recognize, Collect, And Transport Debris On Surfaces, Ying Bai, Chia-Chih Chang, Umesh Choudhary, Irem Bolukbasi, Alfred J. Crosby, Todd Emrick
Polymer Science and Engineering Department Faculty Publication Series
We describe polymer-stabilized droplets capable of recognizing and picking up nanoparticles from substrates in experiments designed for transporting hydroxyapatite nanoparticles that represent the principal elemental composition of bone. Our experiments, which are inspired by cells that carry out materials transport in vivo, used oil-in-water droplets that traverse a nanoparticle-coated substrate driven by an imposed fluid flow. Nanoparticle capture is realized by interaction of the particles with chemical functionality embedded within the polymeric stabilizing layer on the droplets. Nanoparticle uptake efficiency is controlled by solution conditions and the extent of functionality available for contact with the nanoparticles. Moreover, in an elementary …