High-speed shear-driven flows through microstructured 1D-nanochannels.
A new flow type for the conduction of rapid chromatographic and macro-molecular separations in 1D nanochannels is reported. It combines the pressure-drop-less operation of shear-driven flows with the meandering flow paths that are present in ordered arrays of micro- and nanopillars. Similar to shear-driven flows in open channels, the achievable fluid velocity is quasi unlimited and is not affected by a pressure- or voltage-drop, while the axial dispersion in the microstructured pillar arrays remains surprisingly low. In the present paper, we report on a series of flow resistance and band broadening experiments that have been conducted to characterize the hydrodynamical properties of this new flow type. In addition, theoretical computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations have been performed to explain the observations. Good agreement between theory and experiment was obtained.
Vangelooven
Joris
J
Department of Chemical Engineering, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
De Malsche
Wim
W
Detobel
Frederik
F
Gardeniers
Han
H
Desmet
Gert
G