Equipment for characterization of colloidal suspensions: Application to lab-on-chip and alternative energy systems development

微型设备已经成为我们日常生活中相当大的一部分，并嵌入到喷墨打印机、安全气囊和智能手机等多种技术中。另一项即将到来的微技术是芯片实验室(LOC)，它在医疗保健领域有着巨大的前景。LOC在一块不到几厘米大的芯片上集成了几个生物或化学实验室功能。一个典型的应用可能是测定糖尿病患者的血液中的胰岛素含量。LOC概念具有几个优点，如降低制造和维护成本、提高性能和减少浪费。微型器件的一个显著特征是一些物理化学现象变得突出，而这些现象在大规模器件中并不重要。这些现象可以很好地应用于LOC微泵的设计。为了使这项微型技术取得重大突破，应该可以在这种设备中利用任何所需的液体。本申请中描述的所需设备将允许对非常小的颗粒进行表征。这对于依赖于泵送油或松节油等非极性液体的LOC的发展至关重要。所产生的知识将直接用于开发用于医疗应用的LOC。这种用于快速、便携医疗诊断的微型设备的开发将直接使加拿大的医疗系统受益，因为它为患者提供了负担得起的、容易获得的、可以在家中隐私进行的定期测试。联合申请者还将使用这些设备来改进燃料电池的技术，燃料电池是一种将燃料直接转化为电能的装置。燃料电池比基于燃料燃烧的传统系统具有相当高的效率，因此被认为是绿色和可持续的技术。这种技术的发展通过国内消费和高科技产品的出口直接使加拿大经济受益。此外，这项研究将通过培训高素质的工程师和科学家，帮助扩大加拿大的“高科技”工作岗位，并鼓励公司迁往加拿大或在加拿大创业。

Micro devices have become a considerable part of our daily life and are embedded in a multitude of technologies such as inkjet printers, air bags, and smart phones. A further upcoming micro technology is the Lab-on-Chip (LOC) with its immense promise in the healthcare field. A LOC integrates several biological or chemical laboratory functions on a single chip less than a few centimetres in size. A typical application could be the determination of blood's insulin content of a diabetic person. The LOC concept features several advantages such as reduced fabrication and maintenance costs, improved performance, and also less waste. A distinguished feature of micro devices is that several physicochemical phenomena become prominent which are unimportant in large scale devices. These phenomena can be favourably employed to design micro pumps for LOCs. To make crucial breakthroughs for this micro technology it should be possible to utilize any desired liquid within such devices. The requested equipment described in this application will allow for the characterization of very small particles. This is essential to the development of LOCs relying on pumping of non-polar liquids such as oil or turpentine. The knowledge generated will directly be adopted in the development of LOCs for medical applications. Development of such micro devices for rapid, portable medical diagnostics will directly benefit to the Canadian healthcare system by providing patients an affordable, easy access to regular testing that can be carried out in privacy at home. The equipment will also be employed by co-applicants to improve the technology of fuel cells; devices that convert a fuel directly into electrical energy. Fuel Cells have considerable higher efficiencies than conventional systems based on fuel combustion and, hence, are considered green and sustainable technologies. The development of such technologies directly benefits the Canadian economy both through internal consumption and export of high-tech products. Also, the research will assist in the expansion of `high tech' jobs in Canada through the training of highly qualified engineers and scientists and encourage companies to move to or start-up in Canada.