A facile microfluidic strategy for measuring interfacial tension

We report a facile method for measuring interfacial tension (IFT, gamma) of immiscible fluids using a microfluidic device. The IFT is determined by monitoring the pressure drop across a microchannel, where a pair of modified Laplace sensors (formed by tapered channels) are connected, and the curvatures of the interfaces in the tapered channels. The method was tested with the model oil/water systems, and the results agreed well with a commercial tensiometry. We expect this method to be easily implemented in common microfluidic laboratories and supply a low-cost and fast way for interfacial tension measurement. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.