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

微型设备已成为我们日常生活中相当重要的一部分，并嵌入到喷墨打印机，安全气囊和智能手机等众多技术中。另一个即将到来的微型技术是芯片实验室（Lab-on-Chip，简称LAB），它在医疗保健领域有着巨大的前景。一个集成电路集成了几个生物或化学实验室的功能在一个单一的芯片不到几厘米的大小。典型的应用可以是确定糖尿病患者血液中的胰岛素含量。该概念具有几个优点，如降低制造和维护成本，提高性能，也减少浪费。微型器件的一个显著特点是，一些在大规模器件中不重要的物理化学现象变得突出。这些现象可以有利地用于设计用于LOC的微型泵。为了使这种微型技术取得重大突破，应该可以在这种设备中使用任何所需的液体。本申请中描述的所需设备将允许表征非常小的颗粒。这对于依赖于泵送非极性液体（如石油或泥炭）的LOC的开发至关重要。所产生的知识将直接用于开发医疗应用的LOC。开发这种用于快速、便携式医疗诊断的微型设备将直接有益于加拿大的医疗保健系统，为患者提供负担得起的、方便的定期测试，这些测试可以在家中私下进行。该设备还将被共同申请人用于改进燃料电池技术;将燃料直接转化为电能的设备。燃料电池的效率比基于燃料燃烧的传统系统高得多，因此被认为是绿色和可持续的技术。这些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，这项研究还将通过培训高素质的工程师和科学家，协助扩大加拿大的"高技术"就业机会，并鼓励公司迁往加拿大或在加拿大开办公司。

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.