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The rapid development of biosensing platforms for highly sensitive and specific detection raises the desire of precise localization of biomolecules onto various material surfaces. Aluminum has been strategically employed in the biosensor system due to its compatibility with CMOS technology and its optical and electrical properties such as prominent propagation of surface plasmons. Herein, we present an adaptable method for preparation of carbon nanoarrays on aluminum surface passivated with poly(vinylphosphonic acid) (PVPA). The carbon nanoarrays were defined by means of electron beam induced deposition (EBID) and they were employed to realize site-specific immobilization of target biomolecules. To demonstrate the concept, selective streptavidin/neutravidin immobilization on the carbon nanoarrays was achieved through protein physisorption with a significantly high contrast of the carbon domains over the surrounding PVPA-modified aluminum surface. By adjusting the fabrication parameters, local protein densities could be varied on similarly sized nanodomains in a parallel process. Moreover, localization of single 40 nm biotinylated beads was achieved by loading them on the neutravidin-decorated nanoarrays. As a further demonstration, DNA polymerase with a streptavidin tag was bound to the biotin-beads that were immobilized on the nanoarrays and in situ rolling circle amplification (RCA) was subsequently performed. The observation of organized DNA arrays synthesized by RCA verified the nanoscale localization of the enzyme with retained biological activity. Hence, the presented approach could provide a flexible and universal avenue to precise localizing various biomolecules on aluminum surface for potential biosensor and bioelectronic applications.

The Microsystems Technology Division of Uppsala University is committed to make microsystems for the good life. I will present our research on novel materials and technologies for miniaturized systems that are for the good of society and can provide fundamental answers in science.

Flow control is central to microfluidics and chromatography. With decreasing dimensions and high pressures, precise fluid flows are often needed. In this paper, a high-pressure flow control system is presented, allowing for the miniaturization of chromatographic systems and the increased performance of microfluidic setups by controlling flow, composition and relative permittivity of two-component flows with CO2. The system consists of four chips: two flow actuator chips, one mixing chip and one relative permittivity sensor. The actuator chips, throttling the flow, required no moving parts as they instead relied on internal heaters to change the fluid resistance. This allows for flow control using miniaturized fluid delivery systems containing only a single pump or pressure source. Mobile phase gradients between 49% to 74% methanol in CO2 were demonstrated. Depending on how the actuator chips were dimensioned, the position of this range could be set for different method-specific needs. With the microfluidic control board, both flow and composition could be controlled from constant pressure sources, drift could be removed, and variations in composition could be lowered by 84%, resulting in microflows of CO2 and methanol with a variation in the composition of 0.30%.

A system consisting of a high-pressure tolerant microfluidic glass chip, high-speed absorbance imaging, and image processing has been developed to study rapid dynamic events like pH change in a multiphase flow. The system gives both kinetic and quantitative equilibrated information. By tracking the interactions of aqueous additive mixtures and liquid CO2, at 80 bar and 24 °C, under flow, measurement at a given P, T condition is done in 0.25 s. The acidification rate to steady state was found to be mass transport limited, occurring in less than 1 s. For 30 mM of the additives ammonium acetate and ammonium formate, equilibrium pH of 4.5 and 4.1, respectively, was seen. These additives are of key importance in common mobile phases used in SFC.

Soft material applied technology has in recent years become more advanced, enabling for, e.g., soft robotics, skin electronics, and wearable systems. Yet, the processing technology of soft materials has not been sufficiently developed to create high performance in soft and stretchable systems, as compared to the processing technology of conventional electronics or electromechanical systems. Liquid alloys have shown excellent properties for soft and stretchable electrical interconnectors and conductors, which is a basic building block to produce electric or electromechanical systems. In order to overcome the limited resolution of previously developed liquid alloy patterning methods for large-area printed circuits, this work explores the possibility of employing shrinking substrates. By utilizing the characteristics of liquid alloys and elastomers the pattern resolution is improved through a stretch-shrink patterning (SSP) process. The process provides highly conductive liquid conductors of high resolution and can be combined with existing printing techniques for liquid alloys. The SSP process increases design flexibility of soft and stretchable systems that use liquid alloys and enables designs with finer and denser patterns, and cost-effective production for small scale systems.

Three different ZnO nanostructures, dense nanorods, dense nanowires, and sparse nanowires, were synthesized between Pt electrodes by on-chip hydrothermal growth at 90°C and below. The three nanostructures were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction to identify their morphologies and crystal structures. The three ZnO nanostructures were confirmed to have the same crystal type, but their dimensions and densities differed. The NO2 gas-sensing performance of the three ZnO nanostructures was investigated at different operation temperatures. ZnO nanorods had the lowest response to NO2 along with the longest response/recovery time, whereas sparse ZnO nanowires had the highest response to NO2 and the shortest response/recovery time. Sparse ZnO nanowires also performed best at 300°C and still work well and fast at 200°C. The current–voltage curves of the three ZnO nanostructures were obtained at various temperatures, and the results clearly showed that sparse ZnO nanowires did not have the linear characteristics of the others. Analysis of this phenomenon in connection with the highly sensitive behavior of sparse ZnO nanowires is also presented.

Inertial focusing is a promising microfluidic technology for concentration and separation of particles by size. However, there is a strong correlation of increased pressure with decreased particle size. Theory and experimental results for larger particles were used to scale down the phenomenon and find the conditions that focus 1 mu m particles. High pressure experiments in robust glass chips were used to demonstrate the alignment. We show how the technique works for 1 mu m spherical polystyrene particles and for Escherichia coli, not being harmful for the bacteria at 50 mu l min(-1). The potential to focus bacteria, simplicity of use and high throughput make this technology interesting for healthcare applications, where concentration and purification of a sample may be required as an initial step.

Inertial focusing is a phenomenon where particles migrate across streamlines in microchannels and focus at well-defined, size dependent equilibrium points of the cross section. It can be taken into advantage for focusing, separation and concentration of particles at high through-put and high efficiency. As particles decrease in size, smaller channels and higher pressures are needed. Hence, new designs are needed to decrease the pressure drop. In this work a novel design was adapted to focus and separate 1 mu m from 3 mu m spherical polystyrene particles. Also 0.5 mu m spherical polystyrene particles were separated, although in a band instead of a single line. The ability to separate, concentrate and focus bacteria, its simplicity of use and high throughput make this technology a candidate for daily routines in laboratories and hospitals.

High-pressure microfluidics offers fast analyses of thermodynamic parameters for compressed process solvents. However, microfluidic platforms handling highly compressible supercritical CO2 are difficult to control, and on-chip sensing would offer added control of the devices. Therefore, there is a need to integrate sensors into highly pressure tolerant glass chips. In this paper, thin film Pt sensors were embedded in shallow etched trenches in a glass wafer that was bonded with another glass wafer having microfluidic channels. The devices having sensors integrated into the flow channels sustained pressures up to 220 bar, typical for the operation of supercritical CO2. No leakage from the devices could be found. Integrated temperature sensors were capable of measuring local decompression cooling effects and integrated calorimetric sensors measured flow velocities over the range 0.5-13.8 mm/s. By this, a better control of high-pressure microfluidic platforms has been achieved., Part financed through Swedish Agency for the Innovation System, Vinnova, through the Centre for Natural Disaster Science (CNDS)

When using appropriate materials and microfabrication techniques, with the small dimensions the mechanical stability of microstructured devices allows for processes at high pressures without loss in safety. The largest area of applications has been demonstrated in green chemistry and bioprocesses, where extraction, synthesis and analyses often excel at high densities and high temperatures, which are accessible through high pressures. Capillary chemistry has been used since long but, just like in low-pressure applications, there are several potential advantages in using microfluidic platforms, e.g., planar isothermal set-ups, large local variations in geometries, dense form factors, small dead volumes and precisely positioned microstructures for control of reactions, catalysis, mixing and separation. Other potential applications are in, e.g., microhydraulics, exploration, gas driven vehicles, and high-pressure science. From a short review of the state-of-art and frontiers of high pressure microfluidics, the focus will be on our different solutions demonstrated for microfluidic handling at high pressures and challenges that remain., CNDS

Conventional thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are normally hard, rigid, and flat. However, most objects have curvy surfaces, which require soft and even stretchable TEGs for maximizing efficiency of thermal energy harvesting. Here, soft and stretchable TEGs using conventional rigid Bi2Te3 pellets metallized with a liquid alloy is reported. The fabrication is implemented by means of a tailored layer-by-layer fabrication process. The STEGs exhibit an output power density of 40.6 mu W/cm(2) at room temperature. The STEGs are operational after being mechanically stretched-and-released more than 1000 times, thanks to the compliant contact between the liquid alloy interconnects and the rigid pellets. The demonstrated interconnect scheme will provide a new route to the development of soft and stretchable energy-harvesting avenues for a variety of emerging electronic applications.

Att en stor mängd köpta produkter returneras är ett problem som många i handeln finner ekonomiskt ohållbart i längden. Dessvärre är kunskapsutvecklingen kring konsumentreturer och dess hanteringsprocess mycket begränsad. Med detta som utgångspunkt är syftet med forskningsprojektet att utveckla ny kunskap om hur konsumentreturer och dess hanteringsprocess kan bidra till värdeskapande för e-handelsföretag och konsumenter.

Microfluidic devices are useful tools for healthcare, biological and chemical analysis and materials synthesis amongst fields that can benefit from the unique physics of these systems. In this paper we studied inertial focusing as a tool for hydrodynamic sorting of particles by size. Theory and experimental results are provided as a background for a discussion on how to extend the technology to submicron particles. Different geometries and dimensions of microchannels were designed and simulation data was compared to the experimental results.

DNA sequencing, i.e., the process of determining the succession of nucleotides on a DNA strand, has become a standard aid in biomedical research and is expected to revolutionize medicine. With the capability of handling single DNA molecules, nanopore technology holds high promises to become speedier in sequencing at lower cost than what are achievable with the commercially available optics-or semiconductor-based massively parallelized technologies. Despite tremendous progress made with biological and solid-state nanopores, high error rates and large uncertainties persist with the sequencing results. Here, we employ a nano-disk model to quantitatively analyze the sequencing process by examining the variations of ionic current when a DNA strand translocates a nanopore. Our focus is placed on signal-boosting and noise-suppressing strategies in order to attain the single-nucleotide resolution. Apart from decreasing pore diameter and thickness, it is crucial to also reduce the translocation speed and facilitate a stepwise translocation. Our best-case scenario analysis points to severe challenges with employing plain nanopore technology, i.e., without recourse to any signal amplification strategy, in achieving sequencing with the desired single-nucleotide resolution. A conceptual approach based on strand synthesis in the nanopore of the translocating DNA from single-stranded to double-stranded is shown to yield a 10-fold signal amplification. Although it involves no advanced physics and is very simple in mathematics, this simple model captures the essence of nanopore sequencing and is useful in guiding the design and operation of nanopore sequencing.

Miniaturization offers a possibility to increase the performance and decrease the time scales of systems. Existing microsystems using supercritical CO2 mainly utilizes multiphase segmented flows. To allow for a broader toolbox for future systems, also parallel flows are useful which eases the separation of the different phases. Here, the effect of different surface coatings are studied for multiphase flows of scCO2 and H2O in flat microchannels, with and without a 4 μm high ridge guide, which allows for pinning of the fluid interface inside the 190 μm wide and 35 μm high channel. Three different surfaces with different wettings towards scCO2 and H2O are studied, where a surface terminated with a hydrocarbon-based silane was observed to be neutral in the H2O/scCO2 system, a surface terminated with a fluorocarbon-based silane was hydrophobic, and an uncoated glass surface was hydrophilic. Using two flow rates of 5:5 μl/min (CO2:H2O) and 6.5:3.5 μl/min (CO2:H2O), a parallel flow between scCO2 and H2O was observed for uncoated and flat channels where the H2O flow pushed the CO2 to the side, before the flows eventually breaks up into segments. With a ridge guide in the middle of the channel, the interface was pinned at half the channel width, although still breaking up into segments. The neutral hydrocarbon-based surface coating with approximately 90° contact angles resulted in evenly created segments without a ridge guide. Including a guide in the middle of the channel, a parallel flow was observed throughout the channel, although occasionally small CO2 segments entered the H2O outlet. Using the fluorocarbon-based silane resulted in an unstable segmented system with pressure fluctuations. Using surface modifications, an increased control can be achieved for either segmentation or parallel flow where a neutral surface is favored for a stable flow behavior. Together with a ridge guide, the fluid interface was pinned at the center.

High-pressure microfluidics exposes new areas in chemistry. In this paper, the reliability of transparent borosilicate glass chips is investigated. Two designs of circular cavities are used for fracture strength tests, either 1.6 mm wide with rounded corners to the fluid inlets, or 2.0 mm wide with sharp inlet corners. Two kinds of tests are done, either short-term,e.g. pressurization to fracture at room temperature, or long-term, with fracture at constant pressurization for up to one week, in the temperature region 11–125 °C. The speed of crack fronts is measured using a high-speed camera. Results show fracture stresses in the range of 129 and 254 MPa for short-term measurements. Long-term measurements conclude the presences of a temperature and stress dependent delayed fracture. For a reliability ofone week at 11–38 °C, a pressure limit is found at the lower end of the short-term measurements, or 15% lower than the average. At 80 °C, this pressure limit is 45% lower. Crack speeds are measured to be 10−5 m s-1 during short-term fracture. These measurements are comparable with estimations based on slow crack growth and show that the growth affects the reliability of glass chips. This effect is strongly affected by high temperatures, thus lowers the operating window of high-pressure glass microfluidic devices.

Synthesis of ultrathin ZnO nanowires gains great attention from research community because oftheir large potential in applications involving optoelectronics and sensors. In this study, a lowpressure and low-temperature hydrothermal synthesis of ultrathin ZnO nanowires is studied tounderstand the growth mechanisms better. To achieve this aim, an about 10 nm thin Zn seed layerwas sputter-deposited on a silicon (100) wafer for the hydrothermal growth of ZnO nanowires in anequimolar aqueous solution of Zn(NO3)2 and hexamethylenetetramine. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed that the Zn layer was self-oxidized into ZnO in air soon after deposition and thenfunctioned as the seed for the preferred growth of c-oriented ZnO nanorods. Different growthconditions were investigated to identify how concentration, temperature, and time influence the finalmorphology of the synthesized ZnO nanostructures. It was found that under the atmosphericpressure, concentration and temperature have to be higher than 0.0025 M and 50°C, respectively,for the ZnO nanorods to nucleate and grow densely. Low concentration gives sparse and randomlyoriented nanorods, whereas high concentration gives dense and vertical nanorods. Ultrathin ZnOsecondary nanowires with an average diameter of less than 20 nm were successfully synthesizedin a solution with concentration of 0.005 M at 90°C for about 16 h. By analyzing the scanningelectron microscopy images of the ZnO nanostructures obtained at different growth conditions, amechanism is proposed for the growth of the ultrathin secondary ZnO nanowires. This findingprovides a cost-effective and straightforward pathway to prepare ultrathin ZnO nanowires.

Soft micro devices and stretchable electronics have attracted great interest for their potential applications in sensory skins and wearable bio-integrated devices. One of the most important steps in building printed circuits is the alignment of assembled micro objects. Previously, the capillary self-alignment of microchips driven by surface tension effects has been shown to be able to achieve high-throughput and high-precision in the integration of micro parts on rigid hydrophilic/superhydrophobic patterned surfaces. In this paper, the self-alignment of microchips on a patterned soft and stretchable substrate, which consists of hydrophilic pads surrounded by a superhydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) background, is demonstrated for the first time. A simple process has been developed for making superhydrophobic soft surface by replicating nanostructures of black silicon onto a PDMS surface. Different kinds of PDMS have been investigated, and the parameters for fabricating superhydrophobic PDMS have been optimized. A self-alignment strategy has been proposed that can result in reliable self-alignment on a soft PDMS substrate. Our results show that capillary self-alignment has great potential for building soft printed circuits.