Bent-Capillary-Centrifugal-Driven Monodisperse Droplet Generator with Its Application for Digital LAMP Assay

We developed a bent-capillary-centrifugal-driven (BCCD) monodisperse droplet generator, which could achieve a perfect combination of driving and segmentation for the dispersed phase only using a rotating bent capillary immersed in the continuous phase (mineral oil). The sample could flow continuously to the bent capillary outlet to form the droplet precursors, which were segmented into homogeneous droplets in the continuous phase. Through the investigation of influence factors on droplet size and stability, we found that the droplet size could be conveniently controlled by the rotational speed of the bent capillary. The droplet volumes could be adjusted with the range from 34 pL to 1 mu L, and the coefficient variations (CVs) were less than 3%. Meanwhile, the BCCD droplet generator could realize the controllable droplet output with a high-efficiency sample utilization of 99.75 +/- 1.15%, which offered a significant advantage in reducing the waste of precious samples in the droplet generation process. We validated this system with a digital loop mediated isothermal amplification (dLAMP) assay for the absolute quantification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex nucleic acids. The results demonstrated that the BCCD droplet generator was easy to build, was of low cost, and was convenient to operate, as well as avoided sample loss and cross-contamination by coupling with a 96-well plate. Overall, the present platform, as a simple chip-free droplet generator, will provide an especially valuable droplet generation solution for biochemical applications based on droplets.

Automated summary

We developed a bent-capillary-centrifugal-driven (BCCD) monodisperse droplet generator that achieves driving and segmentation of the dispersed phase using a rotating bent capillary immersed in the continuous phase. The size and stability of the droplets can be conveniently controlled by the rotational speed of the bent capillary. The BCCD droplet generator has a high-efficiency sample utilization of 99.75 +/- 1.15% and can be easily constructed and operated, making it a valuable solution for droplet generation in biochemical applications.