NIR light-triggered bursting of double-emulsion drops (DEDs) for microdroplet generation.

Microdroplets have significant applications in microbiology, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and synthetic materials. Herein, we present for the first time, a near-infrared (NIR)-light-triggered double-emulsion drop (DED) bursting method for generating a large number of micro-droplets with a size of several microns. Under the irradiation of NIR light, the inner water phase of the DED containing a trace amount of Prussian blue (PB) rapidly heats up and evaporates rapidly to generate microbubbles due to the photothermal property of PB.