Investigating the effect of phospholipids on droplet formation and surface property evolution in microfluidic devices for droplet interface bilayer (DIB) formation.

Despite growing interest in droplet microfluidic methods for droplet interface bilayer (DIB) formation, there is a dearth of information regarding how phospholipids impact device function. Limited characterization has been carried out for phospholipids, either computationally (in silico) or experimentally (in situ) in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic devices, despite recent work providing a better understanding of how other surfactants behave in microfluidic systems. Hence, microfluidic device design for DIB applications relies heavily on trial and error, with many assumptions made about the impact of phospholipids on droplet formation and surface properties. Here, we examine the effects of phospholipids on interfacial tension, droplet formation, wetting, and hence device longevity, using DPhPC as the most widely used lipid for DIB formation. We use a customized COMSOL in silico model in comparison with in situ experimental data to establish that the stabilization of droplet formation seen when the lipid is dosed in the aqueous phase (lipid-in) or in the oil phase (lipid-out) is directly dependent on the effects of lipids on the device surface properties, rather than on how fast they coat the droplet. Furthermore, we establish a means to visually characterize surface property evolution in the presence of lipids and explore rates of device failure in the absence of lipid, lipid-out, and lipid-in. This first exploration of the effects of lipids on device function may serve to inform the design of microfluidic devices for DIB formation as well as to troubleshoot causes of device failure during microfluidic DIB experiments.