Nanoporous Media in Analytical Sciences

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The program proposed utilizes microfluidic technologies to enhance biochemical analysis and clinical diagnostics in one area of application. In another, we will provide a deeper understanding of transport in nanoporous media for better modeling of water, oil and natural gas in fractured solid media (rocks). The program will improve separation methods for proteins, develop centrifugal microfluidic devices and engineered surfaces for improved clinical diagnostics of metabolites. It will also provide fundamental data on transport in nanoporous media that will be of benefit in the modeling and understanding of transport in fractured rock, so as to aid in enhanced oil and gas recovery.******The development and exploitation of nanoporous materials is the central theme to each of the applications pursued in this work. Nanoporous materials can be rationally designed to enhance the desired properties of a material for applications in chemical and biochemical analysis. In our program we are utilizing both a self-assembled and a manufacturing methodology to create nanoporous devices, and surfaces, with applications in the life sciences. Our focus is on protein separation, and in peptide, protein and metabolite mass spectrometry. The fabrication techniques allow us to engineer the pore size, order and material properties of the nanoporous media, which, combined with surface chemistry controls the properties and performance of the materials. We will be able to improve analytical performance, or create new means of analysis, using our methods of fabrication of nanoporous materials. ******In a different application of nanoporous materials, we will utilize the fine control of porosity that our methods allow, to provide a deeper understanding of transport in nanoporous media. In fractured rock media a combination of large and small scale regimes exist, but since the fluid mechanics of nanopores are not well understood they become more challenging to model mathematically in terms of predicting overall transport and liquid recovery outcomes. This work will provide experimental results that allows improved modeling of transport and recovery in mixed size scale medium such as porous rock, through experimentally measuring the parameters of the smallest pore sizes.**