A novel microfluidic driver via AC electrokinetics
A novel ac electrokinetic microfluidic driver based on alternating current electro-osmosis flow induced by asymmetrically capacitance/chemistry-modulated microelectrode arrays has been successfully developed and demonstrated. Asymmetric capacitance modulation (ACM) is made of comb electrode arrays a...
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Published in | Lab on a chip Vol. 8; no. 5; pp. 725 - 733 |
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Main Authors | , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
01.05.2008
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | A novel ac electrokinetic microfluidic driver based on alternating current electro-osmosis flow induced by asymmetrically capacitance/chemistry-modulated microelectrode arrays has been successfully developed and demonstrated. Asymmetric capacitance modulation (ACM) is made of comb electrode arrays and parts of individual electrode surfaces are modulated/deposited with a SiO(2) dielectric layer. This proposed design can be utilized to shift the optimal operation frequency of maximum velocity to a higher frequency to minimize electrolytic bubble generation and enhance micropumping performance. The pumping velocity, described in this paper, is measured via the tracing of microbeads and is a function of applied potential, signal frequency, buffer concentration, and dielectric layer thickness. A maximum pumping velocity up to 290 microm s(-1) in 5 mM buffer solution with the applied potential of 10 Vpp is observed in our prototype device, and the estimated maximum flow rate is up to 26.1 microl h(-1). This is the first successful demonstration regarding bubble-free ac electrokinetic micropumping via such asymmetrically capacitance-modulated electrode arrays. Design, simulation, microfabrication, experimental result, and theoretical model are described in this paper to characterize and exhibit the performance of the proposed novel bubble-free ac electrokinetic microfluidic driver. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 |
ISSN: | 1473-0197 |
DOI: | 10.1039/b719968f |