Liquid crystal droplet production in a microfluidic device

Liquid crystal drops dispersed in a continuous phase of silicone oil are generated with a narrow distribution in droplet size in microfluidic devices both above and below the nematic to isotropic transition temperature. We observe different dynamics in liquid crystal droplet generation, coalescence, and distinct droplet morphology by altering the microchannel surface energy. The effect of the defect structures of the nematic liquid crystal can lead to distinctly different scaling of droplet size in comparison to the Newtonian system. Capillary instabilities in thin nematic liquid crystal filament has additional contribution from anisotropic effects such as surface gradients of bending stress which can provide extra instability modes compared to that of isotropic fluids.