Bilayer membranes in micro-fluidics: from gel emulsions to soft functional devices
Bilayer membranes in micro-fluidics: from gel emulsions to soft functional devices
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DOI：
10.1039/c0sm00312c
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发表时间：
2011-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
Seemann, Ralf
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Thutupalli, Shashi;Herminghaus, Stephan;Seemann, Ralf
我们概述了基于微流体的自组装软物质器件的概念，该器件使用表面活性剂双层膜作为其主要构建块，由自顶向下光刻提供的几何结构中被捕集。当合适的油包水乳液以高分散相体积分数被迫进入微流体通道时，膜自发形成。即使在通过微流体通道系统泵送时，它们也非常稳定。它们的几何排列是自组装的，由界面能和润湿力驱动。因此出现的有序膜阵列可以装载两亲性功能分子、离子通道，或者利用其独特的物理性质直接使用。对于湿电子电路，水液滴然后用作“焊点”。此外，膜可以用作在相邻液滴中发生的化学过程之间的良好控制的耦合介质。这是众所周知的Belousov-Zhabotinski反应。合适的通道几何形状可用于通过仅移动乳液通过设备以受控方式（重新）排列液滴，从而排列其内容物。因此，以自组装但良好控制的方式从分子大小的组件中构建复杂的设备似乎是可行的。
We outline a concept of self-assembled soft matter devices based on micro-fluidics, which use surfactant bilayer membranes as their main building blocks, arrested in geometric structures provided by top-down lithography. Membranes form spontaneously when suitable water-in-oil emulsions are forced into micro-fluidic channels at high dispersed-phase volume fractions. They turn out to be remarkably stable even when pumped through the micro-fluidic channel system. Their geometric arrangement is self-assembling, driven by interfacial energy and wetting forces. The ordered membrane arrays thus emerging can be loaded with amphiphilic functional molecules, ion channels, or just be used as they are, exploiting their peculiar physical properties. For wet electronic circuitry, the aqueous droplets then serve as the 'solder points'. Furthermore, the membranes can serve as well-controlled coupling media between chemical processes taking place in adjacent droplets. This is shown for the well-known Belousov-Zhabotinski reaction. Suitable channel geometries can be used to (re-)arrange the droplets, and thereby their contents, in a controlled way by just moving the emulsion through the device. It thereby appears feasible to construct complex devices out of molecular-size components in a self-assembled, but well controlled manner.