Cargando…

Electroosmotic Flow in Microchannel with Black Silicon Nanostructures

Although electroosmotic flow (EOF) has been applied to drive fluid flow in microfluidic chips, some of the phenomena associated with it can adversely affect the performance of certain applications such as electrophoresis and ion preconcentration. To minimize the undesirable effects, EOF can be suppr...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Lim, An Eng, Lim, Chun Yee, Lam, Yee Cheong, Taboryski, Rafael
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6187698/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30424162
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi9050229
_version_ 1783363074105802752
author Lim, An Eng
Lim, Chun Yee
Lam, Yee Cheong
Taboryski, Rafael
author_facet Lim, An Eng
Lim, Chun Yee
Lam, Yee Cheong
Taboryski, Rafael
author_sort Lim, An Eng
collection PubMed
description Although electroosmotic flow (EOF) has been applied to drive fluid flow in microfluidic chips, some of the phenomena associated with it can adversely affect the performance of certain applications such as electrophoresis and ion preconcentration. To minimize the undesirable effects, EOF can be suppressed by polymer coatings or introduction of nanostructures. In this work, we presented a novel technique that employs the Dry Etching, Electroplating and Molding (DEEMO) process along with reactive ion etching (RIE), to fabricate microchannel with black silicon nanostructures (prolate hemispheroid-like structures). The effect of black silicon nanostructures on EOF was examined experimentally by current monitoring method, and numerically by finite element simulations. The experimental results showed that the EOF velocity was reduced by 13 ± 7%, which is reasonably close to the simulation results that predict a reduction of approximately 8%. EOF reduction is caused by the distortion of local electric field at the nanostructured surface. Numerical simulations show that the EOF velocity decreases with increasing nanostructure height or decreasing diameter. This reveals the potential of tuning the etching process parameters to generate nanostructures for better EOF suppression. The outcome of this investigation enhances the fundamental understanding of EOF behavior, with implications on the precise EOF control in devices utilizing nanostructured surfaces for chemical and biological analyses.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6187698
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2018
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-61876982018-11-01 Electroosmotic Flow in Microchannel with Black Silicon Nanostructures Lim, An Eng Lim, Chun Yee Lam, Yee Cheong Taboryski, Rafael Micromachines (Basel) Article Although electroosmotic flow (EOF) has been applied to drive fluid flow in microfluidic chips, some of the phenomena associated with it can adversely affect the performance of certain applications such as electrophoresis and ion preconcentration. To minimize the undesirable effects, EOF can be suppressed by polymer coatings or introduction of nanostructures. In this work, we presented a novel technique that employs the Dry Etching, Electroplating and Molding (DEEMO) process along with reactive ion etching (RIE), to fabricate microchannel with black silicon nanostructures (prolate hemispheroid-like structures). The effect of black silicon nanostructures on EOF was examined experimentally by current monitoring method, and numerically by finite element simulations. The experimental results showed that the EOF velocity was reduced by 13 ± 7%, which is reasonably close to the simulation results that predict a reduction of approximately 8%. EOF reduction is caused by the distortion of local electric field at the nanostructured surface. Numerical simulations show that the EOF velocity decreases with increasing nanostructure height or decreasing diameter. This reveals the potential of tuning the etching process parameters to generate nanostructures for better EOF suppression. The outcome of this investigation enhances the fundamental understanding of EOF behavior, with implications on the precise EOF control in devices utilizing nanostructured surfaces for chemical and biological analyses. MDPI 2018-05-11 /pmc/articles/PMC6187698/ /pubmed/30424162 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi9050229 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Lim, An Eng
Lim, Chun Yee
Lam, Yee Cheong
Taboryski, Rafael
Electroosmotic Flow in Microchannel with Black Silicon Nanostructures
title Electroosmotic Flow in Microchannel with Black Silicon Nanostructures
title_full Electroosmotic Flow in Microchannel with Black Silicon Nanostructures
title_fullStr Electroosmotic Flow in Microchannel with Black Silicon Nanostructures
title_full_unstemmed Electroosmotic Flow in Microchannel with Black Silicon Nanostructures
title_short Electroosmotic Flow in Microchannel with Black Silicon Nanostructures
title_sort electroosmotic flow in microchannel with black silicon nanostructures
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6187698/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30424162
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi9050229
work_keys_str_mv AT limaneng electroosmoticflowinmicrochannelwithblacksiliconnanostructures
AT limchunyee electroosmoticflowinmicrochannelwithblacksiliconnanostructures
AT lamyeecheong electroosmoticflowinmicrochannelwithblacksiliconnanostructures
AT taboryskirafael electroosmoticflowinmicrochannelwithblacksiliconnanostructures