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

微型设备已经成为我们日常生活中必不可少的一部分，并且涉及喷墨打印机或智能手机等众多技术。另一项即将到来的微技术是所谓的芯片实验室（LOC）。理想的LOC是将多种化学/生物实验室功能集成在仅几平方厘米大小的单个芯片上的设备。一个典型的应用是测定糖尿病患者血液中的胰岛素含量。LOC概念具有几个优点，例如降低制造/维护成本，提高性能，减少浪费。但是，现有的loc不是灵活的设备，因为它们仅限于特定的任务。目前的研究计划旨在解决迄今为止阻碍实现通用loc的两个障碍。首先，LOC组件的电力供应在很大程度上被忽视了。loc由外部（大型）电源供电，导致一些问题，这些问题损害了微器件的优势。目前的研究计划提出开发集成微型电池来解决这些问题。其次，微型装置的一个显著特征是，一些在大型装置中不重要的物理化学现象变得突出。这些现象可以很好地用于loc微泵的设计。然而，到目前为止，这种微型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重大突破，应该可以在这些设备中使用任何所需的液体。因此，当前研究计划的另一部分是研究对非极性液体（如石油）的操纵，以便在这些微型泵中利用它们。所产生的新技术将直接用于开发用于医疗应用的loc。这种用于便携式医疗诊断的微型设备将直接造福加拿大的医疗保健系统，为患者提供负担得起的、方便的定期检测，这些检测可以在家中进行。此外，这项研究将通过培训高素质的工程师/科学家，帮助扩大加拿大的“高科技”工作岗位。

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.