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

适用于芯片实验室应用的非极性液体中的微流体电池和电渗透流

• 批准号: 402730-2011
• 负责人: Barz, DominikPeterJohannes
• 金额: $ 1.82万
• 依托单位: Queen's University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2012-01-01 至 2013-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=509905
• 关键词: Microfluidic; batteries; electro; osmotic; flows

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.

微设备已成为我们日常生活的重要组成部分，并从事多种技术，例如喷墨打印机或智能手机。即将到来的微技术是所谓的实验室片（LOC）。理想的LOC是一种设备，该设备可以在仅少量平方厘米的单个芯片上集成多种化学/生物实验室功能。典型的应用可能是确定糖尿病患者血液的胰岛素含量。 LOC概念具有多种优势，例如降低的制造 /维护成本，提高性能以及浪费减少。但是，现有的LOC并不是灵活的设备，因为它们仅限于特定任务。当前的研究计划将处理两个障碍，到目前为止，这阻止了通用LOC的实现。首先，LOC组件的电源在很大程度上被忽略了。 LOC由外部（大）电源提供动力，导致几个问题损害了微设备的优势。当前的研究计划提议开发集成的微电池来解决这些问题。其次，微型设备的杰出特征是，几种物理化学现象变得突出，在大型设备中并不重要。这些现象可用于设计LOC的微泵。然而，此类微泵仅限于水或酒精等液体，即所谓的极性液体。为了使这些微技术取得关键的突破，应该可以在此类设备中利用任何所需的液体。因此，当前研究计划的另一部分研究了对非极性液体（例如油）的操纵，以便在这些微泵中使用它们。生成的新技术将直接在用于医疗应用的LOCS开发中。这种用于便携式医疗诊断的微型设备将通过为患者提供可负担得起且易于访问可以在房屋私密性中进行的常规测试而直接使加拿大医疗保健系统受益。此外，这项研究将通过培训高素质的工程师/科学家来帮助在加拿大扩大“高科技”工作。