Facile fabrication of uniform nanoscale perfluorocarbon droplets as ultrasound contrast agents

Perfluorocarbon (PFC) nanodroplets have emerged as a novel phase-change contrast agent, remotely triggered by ultrasound in situ, which holds great potential for ultrasound imaging, early cancer diagnosis, and ultrasound-mediated cancer treatment. As the characteristics of PFC nanodroplets are highly size dependent, it is crucial to tightly control the size and uniformity of PFC nanodroplets, which remain a challenge using current available emulsification techniques. To meet this niche, we developed a novel method to produce monodisperse PFC nanodroplets by the Ouzo effect using a staggered herringbone micromixer. With this method, we fabricated PFC nanodroplets from ~ 200 to ~ 700 nm in diameter with a narrow size distribution (PDI