Microfluidics-Enabled Soft Manufacture

Book excerpt: This book covers state-of-the-art development in microfluidics-enabled soft manufacturing (MESM), ranging from fundamentals to applications. The book addresses the long-standing challenge in the manufacture of simultaneously achieving both precise control over nano-/micro-scale structures and large-scale fabrication of materials for pragmatic use, with microfluidics-enabled soft manufacture to fill the gap between the widely-varied length scales involved. It offers a comprehensive insight into the microfluidic generation of fluid systems as liquid templates, such as droplets, bubbles, jets, emulsions, and foams, which are categorized into individual templates, one-dimensional arrays, and two-/three-dimensional assemblies for the modular fabrication of microparticles, microfibers, and porous materials, respectively. MESM enriches the compositional and structural diversity of engineered materials for well-tailored properties and functionalities, markedly broadening the application horizons across interdisciplinary fields, including engineering, environment, physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine. This book aims to systematize this emerging yet versatile and powerful technology, with the hope of aiding the realization of its full potential. Microfluidics-Enabled Soft Manufacture will be an invaluable reference for graduate students, postgraduates, researchers, and practitioners/professionals working in micro and nanofabrication, materials science, surface science, fluid dynamics, and engineering.