One form of process intensification is to perform the process at a microfluidic scale channels, however with thousands of these microfluidic processes running in parallel. This is applicable to many processes such as reactions and separation. One unique aspect of these platforms that becomes critical for emulsion separation is the surface chemistry of the channels. Patterned surface chemistry of microfluidic platforms results in an alternating surface energy that interacts with the different components of the emulsions causing its destabilization without an external source of energy. Due to the different materials used in fabrication microfluidic platforms and in modifying the surface chemistry, the selective patterning of a microchannel becomes challenging. This project considers the development of novel selective surface chemistry patterning techniques for silicon-based substrates with tuneable nano-porous materials, namely metallic organic frameworks (MOFs) for the separation of nanoparticle-stabilized emulsions.
