Measurement of residence time distribution in microfluidic systems

We present a method for measuring the residence time distribution (RTD) in microfluidic systems. A piezoelectrically actuated sample injector releases approximately 100 nl of tracer liquid into a microchannel of rectangular cross section. The spreading of the tracer pulse in pressure-driven microflows is monitored with fluorescence microscopy measurements. Residence time distributions are determined for single-phase liquid and segmented gas–liquid microflows, with the RTD being significantly narrower for the latter case. The selected flow conditions are relevant to synthesis in microreactors with residence times up to several minutes.