Ultrafast detection in droplet microfluidics using ion mobility spectrometry

该项目专注于液滴微流体快速无标签检测方法的开发和评估。因此，微流控液滴芯片将首次与离子迁移率光谱相结合，以实现对分段流中单个液滴的高速实时分析。该项目的核心科学方面是一个超快漂移管离子迁移谱仪的概念和仪器开发与微流控芯片系统中的液滴同步，用于无标签检测和分析单个液滴。目标是达到至少300 Hz的离子迁移谱的高记录速率，这意味着与目前离子迁移谱技术的状态相比，记录速率增加了十倍。通过调制离子门进行短时复用，可以进一步提高测量频率。离子迁移率光谱的研究工作伴随着量身定制的微流控液滴芯片系统的发展，以及先进的电离和界面策略，以有效地与离子迁移率光谱相结合。结合微滴微流体和超快离子迁移谱法对分段流中单个微滴进行化学分析的方法旨在实现一种使能技术，该技术将显著增加微滴微流体作为高通量应用的有前途的平台技术的应用范围。

The project concentrates on the development and evaluation of a fast label-free detection method for droplet-based microfluidics. Therefore, microfluidic droplet chips will be coupled to ion mobility spectrometry for the first time in order to analyze individual droplets in segmented flows at high speed in real time. Central scientific aspects of the project are the conception and instrumental development of an ultrafast drift-tube ion mobility spectrometer synchronized to the droplets for label-free detection and analysis of single droplets in microfluidic chip systems. The objective is to reach high recording rates of ion mobility spectra of at least 300 Hz, which already means a tenfold increase of the recording rate compared to the state of the art in ion mobility spectrometry. A further increase of the measuring frequency will be achieved by modulating the ion gate for short time multiplexing. The research work in the field of ion mobility spectrometry is accompanied by the development of tailored microfluidic droplet chip systems as well as advanced ionization and interface strategies for an efficient coupling with ion mobility spectrometry. The approach of combining droplet microfluidics and ultrafast ion mobility spectrometry for the chemical analysis of individual microdroplets in segmented flows aims at an enabling technology that will significantly increase the range of applications for droplet microfluidics as a promising platform technology for high-throughput applications.