Abstract
This paper presents a T-shaped micromixer featuring 45° parallelogram barriers (PBs) within the mixing channel. The presented device obtains a rapid mixing of two sample fluids with conductivity ratio of 10:1 (sample concentration:running buffer concentration) by means of the electrokinetic instability-induced shedding effects which are produced when a direct current (DC) electric field of an appropriate intensity is applied. The presented device uses a single high-voltage power source to simultaneously drive and mix the sample fluids. The effectiveness of the mixer is characterized experimentally as a function of the applied electrical field intensity and the extent to which the PBs obstruct the mixing channel. The experimental results indicate that the mixing performance reaches 91% at a cross-section located 2.3 mm downstream of the T-junction when the barriers obstruct 4/5 of the channel width and an electrical field of 300 V/cm is applied. The micromixing method presented in this study provides a simple low-cost solution to mixing problems in lab-on-a-chip systems.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 4982-4990 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Electrophoresis |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 24 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2006 Dec 1 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Analytical Chemistry
- Biochemistry
- Clinical Biochemistry