title: Micromixer utilizing electrokinetic instability-induced shedding effect.
abstract: This paper presents a T-shaped micromixer featuring 45 degrees parallelogram barriers (PBs) within the mixing channel. The presented device obtains a rapid mixing of two sample fluids with conductivity ratio of 10:1 (sample concentration:running buffer concentration) by means of the electrokinetic instability-induced shedding effects which are produced when a direct current (DC) electric field of an appropriate intensity is applied. The presented device uses a single high-voltage power source to simultaneously drive and mix the sample fluids. The effectiveness of the mixer is characterized experimentally as a function of the applied electrical field intensity and the extent to which the PBs obstruct the mixing channel. The experimental results indicate that the mixing performance reaches 91% at a cross-section located 2.3 mm downstream of the T-junction when the barriers obstruct 4/5 of the channel width and an electrical field of 300 V/cm is applied. The micromixing method presented in this study provides a simple low-cost solution to mixing problems in lab-on-a-chip systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Vehicle Engineering, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chang-Hsien
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Tai
authors.forename: Ruey-Jen
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Min-Zhong
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Chia-Wei
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chien-Hsiung
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Lung-Ming
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Fu
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*