TY - JOUR
T1 - A micro-volume viscosity measurement technique based on μPIV diffusometry
AU - Sie, Yue Syun
AU - Chuang, Han Sheng
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments This research received funding from the Headquarters of University Advancement at the National Cheng Kung University, which is sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Taiwan. The authors are also grateful to the support from the research Grant NSC 101-2221-E-006-049-.
PY - 2014/1
Y1 - 2014/1
N2 - Liquid viscosity is a vital metric in numerous biochemical applications. A precise bio-assay often needs to determine viscosity prior to processing. This article presents a simple viscosity measurement technique based on the μPIV diffusometry. Assessing Brownian motion of neutrally buoyant particles in a micro-sized chamber provides a fast link to the liquid viscosity. The ensemble cross-correlation algorithm was used to extract the viscosity information out of a series of particle images. The width of a correlation peak decreased with the increased viscosity. For an accurate measurement, the study also evaluated deviations resulting from hindered diffusion. A correction factor was obtained by comparing the measured viscosity of glycerol solutions with the reference data. A calibration curve was made to fix the shifted measurements. The advantages of this technique are as follows: small volume (<1 μL), noninvasiveness, ease of use, and low cost. The good agreement between the data measured from the μPIV system and a commercial vis-cometer validated the approach. To prove the effectiveness, the technique was used to study the viscosity change of dextran solutions and its effect on the kinematics of the micro-swimmer, Caenorhabditis ele-gans. A broad range of viscosity measurements (> 103 mPa s) were achieved. The demonstration confirms the possible use of the technique in other biological applications that requires broad-range and small-volume measurement capabilities for viscosity.
AB - Liquid viscosity is a vital metric in numerous biochemical applications. A precise bio-assay often needs to determine viscosity prior to processing. This article presents a simple viscosity measurement technique based on the μPIV diffusometry. Assessing Brownian motion of neutrally buoyant particles in a micro-sized chamber provides a fast link to the liquid viscosity. The ensemble cross-correlation algorithm was used to extract the viscosity information out of a series of particle images. The width of a correlation peak decreased with the increased viscosity. For an accurate measurement, the study also evaluated deviations resulting from hindered diffusion. A correction factor was obtained by comparing the measured viscosity of glycerol solutions with the reference data. A calibration curve was made to fix the shifted measurements. The advantages of this technique are as follows: small volume (<1 μL), noninvasiveness, ease of use, and low cost. The good agreement between the data measured from the μPIV system and a commercial vis-cometer validated the approach. To prove the effectiveness, the technique was used to study the viscosity change of dextran solutions and its effect on the kinematics of the micro-swimmer, Caenorhabditis ele-gans. A broad range of viscosity measurements (> 103 mPa s) were achieved. The demonstration confirms the possible use of the technique in other biological applications that requires broad-range and small-volume measurement capabilities for viscosity.
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U2 - 10.1007/s10404-013-1219-4
DO - 10.1007/s10404-013-1219-4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84899445894
VL - 16
SP - 65
EP - 72
JO - Microfluidics and Nanofluidics
JF - Microfluidics and Nanofluidics
SN - 1613-4982
IS - 1-2
ER -