title: An efficient planar accordion-shaped micromixer: from biochemical mixing to biological application.
abstract: Micromixers are the key component that allow lab-on-a-chip and micro total analysis systems to reach the correct level of mixing for any given process. This paper proposes a novel, simple, passive micromixer design characterized by a planar accordion-shape geometry. The geometrical characteristics of the presented design were analyzed numerically in the range of 0.01 < Re < 100 based on the micromixer performance. The performance of the most efficient design was experimentally investigated by means of fluorescence microscopy for a range of low diffusion coefficients, 10(-12) < D < 10(-11) m(2)/s. The micromixer structure was fabricated in a simple single-step process using maskless lithography and soft lithography. The experimental results showed a very good agreement with the predicted numerical results. This micromixer design including a single serpentine unit (1-SERP) displayed an efficiency higher than 90% (mixing length = 6.4 mm) creating a pressure drop of about 500 Pa at Re = 0.1 and 60 kPa at Re = 10. A mixing efficiency of almost 100% was readily reached when three serpentine units were included (3-SERP). Finally, the potential diagnostic value of the presented microdevice was validated experimentally for Red Blood Cell (RBC) lysis.
authors.affiliation: Center for Advanced Biomaterials for Healthcare@CRIB, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Largo Barsanti e Matteucci 53, 80125 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Armando
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cosentino
authors.affiliation: Center for Advanced Biomaterials for Healthcare@CRIB, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Largo Barsanti e Matteucci 53, 80125 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Hojjat
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Madadi
authors.affiliation: Center for Advanced Biomaterials for Healthcare@CRIB, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Largo Barsanti e Matteucci 53, 80125 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vergara
authors.affiliation: Center for Advanced Biomaterials for Healthcare@CRIB, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Largo Barsanti e Matteucci 53, 80125 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vecchione
authors.affiliation: Center for Advanced Biomaterials for Healthcare@CRIB, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Largo Barsanti e Matteucci 53, 80125 Naples, Italy.|Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Biomaterials (CRIB), University "Federico II", Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy.|Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, dei Materiali e della Produzione Industriale (DICMAPI), University "Federico II", Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Causa
authors.affiliation: Center for Advanced Biomaterials for Healthcare@CRIB, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Largo Barsanti e Matteucci 53, 80125 Naples, Italy.|Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Biomaterials (CRIB), University "Federico II", Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy.|Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, dei Materiali e della Produzione Industriale (DICMAPI), University "Federico II", Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo Antonio
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Netti
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D004867:Equipment Design; D056656:Lab-On-A-Chip Devices