Picture for: How do you make a microreactor?
(Note: source has © on the figure)
Here are optical micrographs of two-phase laminar flows in three polydimethylsiloxane zigzag channel microreactors. They show that two dissimilar fluids can be pumped side by side through a microreactor to selectively treat its interior surfaces. The fluid velocity is high enough that diffusion between the two liquids is minimal but low enough to give laminar flow. One intriguing application was the fabrication of a silver wire inside the microreactor channel. Pumping in the two parts of an electroless silver plating solution caused the wire to form at the interface of the two liquids. The authors speculate that this type of flow could be used to employ photolithographic methods to pattern these surfaces.
Source: Whitesides GT et al. 2 July1999. Science. (285) 83-85.