Microfluidics/Nanofluidics

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We are investigating the fundamental physicochemical phenomena associated with micro/nano fluidics including interfacial, electrokinetic and colloidal processes. Further, we are applying micro/nano fluidics in a wide range of applications such as biosensing, molecular imaging, drug delivery, chemical reactors.

For example, we have developed a novel fluid manipulation technique, “microfluidic drifting,” to enable three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamic focusing with a simple single-layer planar microfluidic device (Figure 1), which can be easily fabricated via standard soft lithography. Traditionally microfabricated 3D hydrodynamic focusing devices require extensive 3D fabrication techniques such as multi-layer assembly or multi-step lithography, which are not readily available to the majority of chemistry/biology laboratories. We believe that our work represents the most simplistic microfabricated device developed to date for 3D hydrodynamic focusing. This technique can potentially enable many applications which would otherwise not be possible due to the limitations of impractical and specialized 3D microfabrication techniques and be of great importance for a wide variety of chemical/biological analyses, including on-chip flow cytometry, single molecule detection, and laminar mixers for the study of rapid chemical and enzymatic kinetics.

Figure 1: (a) CFD simulation of “microfluidic drifting” based 3D hydrodynamic focusing process. Slices 1–10 are the cross-sectional profiles of the fluorescein dye concentration. (b) The 3D profile of the focused flow by confocal microscopy. © CFD simulation performed under the same flow conditions.

1. Xiaole Mao, John Robert Waldeisen, Tony Jun Huang, “Microfluidic Drifting” - Implementing Three-Dimensional Hydrodynamic Focusing with a Single-Layer Planar Microfluidic Device, Lab on a Chip, Vol. 7, pp. 1260-1262, 2007. (cover image). [PDF]
2. Jinjie Shi, Xiaole Mao, Daniel Ahmed, Ashley Colletti, Tony Jun Huang, Focusing Microparticles in a Microfluidic Channel with Standing Surface Acoustic Waves (SSAW), Lab on a Chip, Vol. 8, pp. 221-223, 2008 (will be featured as front cover image in IEEE Nano Magazine). [PDF]