Dear Colleagues,

Droplets serve as ideal miniaturized platforms for various biochemical reactions in natural and artificial processes. The compartmentalization at small spatial scales with enlarged surface-to-volume ratios empowers droplet-based reactors with unique advantages, including small reagent volumes, well-defined reaction conditions, rapid mixing, reinforced interfacial effects, enhanced reaction efficiencies, and high-throughput analysis. In particular, droplet-based reactors could facilitate biochemical reactions that are thermodynamically unfavorable in the bulk phase.

Over the past two decades, droplet-based reactors have been extensively investigated and deployed in numerous emerging fields, including micro/nanofluidics, bio-inspired/biomimetic materials and systems, soft/active matters, thermal processes and engineering, environmental science and technologies, and new energy. A better understanding of the dynamics and kinematics of versatile droplets is important for exploration, design, manufacturing, and applications of droplet-based reactors towards different scenarios on demand. Recent advances in experimental and computational methodologies for the characterization of flow fields and chemical reaction processes can provide finer spatiotemporally resolved details in dynamics and kinematics within droplets. Additionally, various responsive functional materials and technologies are emerging to build more advanced droplet-based reactors. As a result, more and more efficient liquid manipulation methods for discrete droplets can be expected, with possibilities for future applications extending to a wider range of research interests.

This Special Issue, “Research on Dynamics and Kinematics of Droplet-based Miniaturized Reactors”, aims to highlight up-to-date fundamental studies and applications of motions and processes related to droplet-based reactors in any research paper format, short communication, or review article. Potential topics include (but are not limited to):

• Experimental/theoretical/computational fluid dynamics within droplets;
• New droplet manipulation methods towards various applications and processes;
• Biochemical reactions and processes facilitated by functional droplets;
• Kinetics of droplet-based reactors in biochemical processes.

We look forward to receiving your submissions.

Dr. Jing Jin
Dr. Wei Guo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• fluid dynamics
• kinematics
• droplets
• microfluidics
• microreactors
• manipulation
• biochemical analysis