Microfluidics

Microfluidics

Microfluidics systems widely used in biomedical, precision

manufacturing processes and pharmaceutical industries.

Principal application of microfluidics systems are in:

Chemical analysis

Biological and chemical sensing

Drug delivery

Molecular separation such as DNA analysis

Amplification

Sequencing or synthesis of nucleic acids and

Environmental monitoring.

Microfluidics is also an essential part of precision control

systems for automotive, aerospace and machine tool
industries.

Advantages of Microfluidics Systems

1. Ability to work with small samples, which leads to significantly
smaller and less expensive biological and chemical analysis.
2. Most microfluidic systems offer better performance with
reduced power consumption.
3. Most fluidic systems for biotechnical analyses can be
combined with traditional electronics systems on a single
piece of silicon as a lab-on-a-chip (LOC).
4. Since, many of these systems are produced in batches, they
are disposable after use, which ensures safety in application
and savings in the costs of cleaning and maintenance.

Microfluidics System

A microfluidic system consists of nozzles, pumps, channels,

reservoirs, mixers, oscillators and valves in micro or meso
scales.

Heming (1998) defines the scope of microfluidics systems as

a fluidic system comprises the following major components.

Microsensors used to measure fluid properties (pressure,

temperature and flow).

Actuators like micro-valves, micro-pumps and compressors

are used to alter the stat of fluids.

Distribution channels regulating flows in various branches

in the system. Eg. Capillary networks, microchannels of noncircular cross section.

They typically have open-cross sectional areas of m2.

The channels direct fluid flows of few a few hundred

Microfluidics System

Microchannels of non-circular cross-sections are usually

produced by chemical etching in open channels.

Two open channels are bonded to provide the closed conduit.

These channels can be produced in lengths of less than a

millimeter.

Microfluidics System

Electrodynamic forces are provided by electro-osmosis or

electrophoresis in bio testing and analytical systems are
extensively used to drive the fluid.

Systems integration includes integrating the microsensors,

valves and pumps through the microchannel links.

This integration involves the required electrical systems that

provide electro-hydrodynamic forces, the circuits for
transduction and processing the electronic signals and control
of the microfluid flow in the system.

Microfluidic systems can be built with a variety of materials,

such as quartz, glasses, plastics and polymers, ceramics,
semiconductors and metals.

Design of microfluidic systems requires special considerations

eg. scaling law.

Surface-to-mass ratio changes drastically when the systems

Microfluidics System

Electrohydrodynamic pumping is an effective way of moving

fluids in microchannels.

Well-known Navier-Strokes equations for fluid dynamics can

no longer be used in predicting the dynamics of fluid flow in
microsystems.

Therefore, theoretical formulations are to be modified in order

to apply for microchannel flows.

Electrohydrodynamics (EHD)

EHD deals with the motion of fluids driven by an electric field

applied to the fluids.

There are two principal applications of EHD in microsystems.

Electro-osmotic pumping and electro-phoretic pumping.

These unique techniques are used to move chemical and

biological fluids in channels with extremely small crosssections, ranging from m2 to mm2.

Flow rates in such techniques will be in the order of m3/s.

Microfluidics are widely used in the pharmaceutical industry

and in biochemistry analysis using extremely small sample
quantities in the order of few hundred nanoliters.

EHD pumping does not have any moving mechanical parts

such as rotating impellers.
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Electrohydrodynamics (EHD)

Often, it is the only effective way to move fluids in extremely

small channels because of the capillary effect.

This effect in fluid flow in small conduits is principally due to

the surface tension and the van der Waals forces in fluid
molecules.

Consequently, conventional volumetric mechanical pumping

can not be effectively used for the fluid movement through
these extremely small cross sections.

One specific application is the capillary electrophoresis (CE)

process for rapid accurate chemical and biological analysis.

Free electric charges in solvents can be produced in several

ways.

For eg. By electrolytes.

Dielectric liquids subjected to very high voltage can produce

Electrohydrodynamics (EHD)

Another way to generate charges is by electrifying layered

liquids with spatial gradients of electric conductivity and
permitivity as indicated in the following equation (Bart et al.
1990)

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EHD Pumping

Fig. illustrates the generation of ionic solution in an electroosmotic pumping in a conduit (Bart et al. 1990).

EHD Pumping of a Solvent

Solution consists of two materials with different electric

resistivities, 1 and 2 and permittivities 1 and 2.

A material interface is formed after the application of an

electrical field across the conduit walls.
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Electrohydrodynamics (EHD)

Free charges are produced by the gradient of electric

conductivity, which is presented by the difference in the
resistivities and the permitivities between the two materials.

Signs of the surface charges in the material layer are

determined by the permitivities of the materials.

For eg. If material layer 1 were close to being an insulator,

then the surface charge induced would be opposite to the
sign of the electrode array.

Once free charges are generated in the fluid, pumping of the

fluid along the longitudinal direction can be accomplished by
applying electric field to the electrodes in the array along the
length of the channel as shown.

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Electro-osmotic Pumping

Used to move electrically neutral fluids through channels of

extremely small cross-sections.

Condition is that the wall of the conduit or channel must have

attached immobile charges.

A glass wall (shown) can produce such immobile charges

along the surface, if it is coated either with ionizable materials
(deprotonated silanol groups) or with strongly absorbed
charged species that are present in the fluid..

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Electro-osmotic Pumping

In such cases, electro-osmotic motion of fluid in

microchannels of capillary tubes can be produced in any
electrolyte fluid.

Because the gradient of the concentration of electric charges

decreases toward the centre of the conduit, a dual layer of
fluid with varying concentration of charges is formed.

Charges in the double layer can be moved with the applied

electric charges along the longitudinal direction.

Momentum of the moving charges can drive the solvent

through the fliud channel.

A unique feature of electro-osmotic flow is that a uniform

velocity profile of the moving fluid across the cross section of
the tube channel is obtained.
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Electrophoretic Pumping

Used to separate minute foreign particles or species from the

bulk fluid.

Microfluidic systems with electrophoresis are widely used in

biomedical and pharmaceutical industries.

Movement of ions of the particles in a hetrogenous medium is

prompted by an applied high-voltage electric field.

Ions with different charges move in opposite directions along

the channel in the separation process.

When the flow is fully developed, the ions in the stream can
automatically separate themselves by their inherent electroosmotic mobility under the influence of applied electric field.

It is a highly desirable situation in chemical and biological

analyses, in which separation of various minute species is
often a difficult task.

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Electrophoretic Pumping

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EHD Pumping

Rate of flow in both electro-osmotic and electro-phoretic

pumping is linearly proportional to the applied electric field.

These pumping methods involve no moving mechanical parts.

It is especially suitable for miniaturized systems.

Only a small sample of analyte is required in most cases with

this type of pumping in microfluidic systems.

Velocity of moving free charges in EHD pumping can be

determined with the following equation (Kovacs 1998).

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