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Microfluidic Mixing Triggered by an External LED Illumination.

Authors :
Venancio-Marques, Anna
Barbaud, Fanny
Baigl, Damien
Source :
Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2/27/2013, Vol. 135 Issue 8, p3118-3123. 6p.
Publication Year :
2013

Abstract

The mixing of confined liquids is a central yet challenging operation in miniaturized devices. Microfluidic mixing is usually achieved with passive mixers that are robust but poorly flexible, or active mixers that offer dynamic control but mainly rely on electrical or mechanical transducers, which increase the fragility, cost, and complexity of the device. Here, we describe the first remote and reversible control of microfluidic mixing triggered by a light illumination simply provided by an external LED illumination device. The approach is based on the light-induced generation of water microdroplets acting as reversible stirrers of two continuous oil phase flows containing samples to be mixed. We demonstrate many cycles of reversible photoinduced transitions between a nonmixing behavior and full homogenization of the two oil phases. The method is cheap, portable, and adaptable to many device configurations, thus constituting an essential brick for the generation of future all-optofluidic chip. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
00027863
Volume :
135
Issue :
8
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
Journal of the American Chemical Society
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
86432502
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1021/ja311837r