Microfluidic batteries and electro osmotic flows in non-polar liquids suitable for lab-on-chip applications

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Micro devices have become an essential part of our daily life and are engaged in a multitude of technologies such as inkjet printers or smart phones. A further upcoming micro technology is the so-called Lab-on-Chip (LOC). An ideal LOC is a device that integrates a multitude of chemical/biological laboratory functions on a single chip of only few square 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 /maintenance costs, improved performance, and also less waste. However, the existing LOCs are not flexible devices as they are limited to a specific task. The current research program serves to deal with two barriers which have so far prevented the realization of universal LOCs. First, the electrical power supply of LOC components has been largely neglected. LOCs are powered by external (large) power supplies leading to several problems which compromise the advantages of a micro device. The current research program proposes the development of integrated micro batteries to solve these problems. Second, 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. Such micro pumps, however, are so far restricted to liquids such as water or alcohol, so-called polar liquids. To make crucial breakthroughs for these micro technologies it should be possible to utilize any desired liquid within such devices. Hence, the other part of the current research program investigates the manipulation of non-polar liquids, such as oil, in order to utilize them in these micro pumps. The novel technology generated will directly be adopted in the development of LOCs for medical applications. Such micro devices for portable medical diagnostics will directly benefit the Canadian healthcare system by providing patients with affordable and easy access to regular testing that can be carried out in the privacy of a home. Also, the research will assist in the expansion of `high tech' jobs in Canada through the training of highly qualified engineers/scientists.