ABSTRACT
Microfabrication technologies have enabled the rapid development of integrated microfluidic devices that are able to manipulate and control very tiny quantities of liquid through a variety of simple and complex structures. Microfluidic devices were initially developed to reduce the consumption of expensive reagents, shorten analysis time and increase the throughput of analysis by scaling down fluid channel dimensions, multiplexing reactions and integrating multiple functions. Droplet microfluidics involves the generation and manipulation of discrete droplets through immiscible multiphase flows inside the microchannels of a Lab-on-a-Chip (LoC) device. This chapter describes the fundamental principles of droplet microfluidics and summarizes commonly used analytical detection techniques in droplet-based microfluidic systems. The evolving technology has started to make an impact on a variety of areas, including life science research, material synthesis and the pharmaceutical industry.
