High-Frequency Nanofluidics of Bio-NEMS: Theory and Experiments

本研究对水溶液中高频生物功能化纳米机电系统（Bio-NEMS）的基本流体动力学进行了理论和实验相结合的研究。Bio-NEMS的大多数高影响应用涉及纳米级悬臂梁或双箝位梁在水生化溶液中共振。生物化学水溶液中Bio-NEMS操作的优化对于未来涉及蛋白质、DNA、细胞、化学品等传感应用至关重要。不幸的是，Bio-NEMS谐振器几乎所有储存的能量都被流体消耗掉了。这将导致设备可用信号的显著减少。研究人员最近的实验和理论表明，随着振荡频率的增加，牛顿流体近似失效，导致从粘弹性行为过渡到弹性行为，并伴随着耗散的减少。这表明，在高频率下，通过改变流体弛豫时间可以降低流体的有效耗散。本文将研究增加水溶液弛豫时间的各种方法以及对Bio-NEMS流体耗散的影响。该项目将培养研究生和本科生在工程和物理的广泛横截面，包括纳米工程，纳米计量学和流体动力学。研究人员计划继续参与波士顿大学赞助的外展活动，如科学周六、LENS和FIRST机器人。调查人员在组织此类项目方面有丰富的经验，这些活动将与波士顿大学学习资源网络（LERNet）密切合作协调。研究人员还将通过纳米技术和流体动力学的研究生和本科生课程传播研究成果。

CBET-0755927EkinciThis study is a combined theoretical and experimental investigation of the fundamental fluid-dynamics of high frequency bio-functionalized nanoelectromechanical systems (Bio-NEMS) in aqueous solution. Most high impact applications of Bio-NEMS involve nanoscale cantilevers or doubly-clamped beams resonating in aqueous biochemical solutions. Optimization of Bio-NEMS operation in biochemical aqueous solutions is crucial for future sensing applications involving proteins, DNA, cells, chemicals, etc. Unfortunately, a Bio-NEMS resonator loses almost all of its stored energy to the fluid. This causes a significant reduction of the available signal from the device. Recent experiments and theory by the investigators have shown that, as the frequency of oscillations increase, the Newtonian fluid approximation breaks down, resulting in a transition from viscoelastic-like behavior to elastic-like behavior with an accompanying reduction in dissipation. This suggests that, at high frequencies, the effective fluidic dissipation can be reduced by changing the fluid relaxation time. Here, various approaches for increasing the relaxation time of aqueous solutions and the effects on fluidic dissipation of Bio-NEMS will be investigated. This project will train both graduate and undergraduate students in a wide cross-section of engineering and physics, including nanoscale engineering, nanometrology, and fluid dynamics. The investigators plan to remain involved in outreach events sponsored by Boston University, such as Science Saturdays, LENS and FIRST robotics. The investigators have a substantial amount of experience in organizing such programs, and the events will be coordinated in close collaboration with the Boston University Learning Resource Network (LERNet). The investigators will also disseminate research results through graduate- and undergraduate-level courses on Nanotechnology and Fluid Dynamics.