Micromixer utilizing electrokinetic instability-induced shedding effect.
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.
Tai
Chang-Hsien
CH
Department of Vehicle Engineering, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung, Taiwan.
Yang
Ruey-Jen
RJ
Huang
Min-Zhong
MZ
Liu
Chia-Wei
CW
Tsai
Chien-Hsiung
CH
Fu
Lung-Ming
LM
D004867:Equipment Design; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*