Modular fluidic resistors to enable widely tunable flow rate and fluidic switching period in a microfluidic oscillator

Microfluidic systems with modular components are attractive alternatives to monolithically integrated microfluidic systems because of their flexibility. In this study, we apply the modular concept on a water‐head‐pressure‐driven microfluidic oscillator and obtain a widely tunable flow rate and fluidic switching period. Modular fluidic resistors can be easily mounted onto and demounted from a main chip by means of plastic male connectors. The connectors enable a leak‐free connection between the modular resistors and main chip (leakage pressure > 140 kPa). With modular resistors, we show independent control of the flow rate and flow switching period of the oscillator system in a wide range (2.5 s–6.4 h and 2 μL/min–2 mL/min). This modular approach can be used to enhance the flexibility of instruction‐embedded microfluidic circuits in which their operational range is limited.     

A simplified PDMS microfluidic device with a built-in suction actuator for rapid production of monodisperse water-in-oil droplets

We previously established an automatic droplet-creation technique that only required air evacuation of a PDMS microfluidic device prior to use. Although the rate of droplet production with this technique was originally slow (∼10 droplets per second), this was greatly improved (∼470 droplets per second) in our recent study by remodeling the original device configuration. This improvement was realized by the addition of a degassed PDMS layer with a large surface area-to-volume ratio that served as a powerful vacuum generator. However, the incorporation of the additional PDMS layer (which was separate from the microfluidic PDMS layer itself) into the device required reversible bonding of five different layers. In the current study, we aimed to simplify the device architecture by reducing the number of constituent layers for enhancing usability of this microfluidic droplet generator while retaining its rapid production rate. The new device consisted of three layers. This comprised a degassed PDMS slab with microfluidic channels on one surface and tens of thousands of vacuum-generating micropillars on the other surface, which was simply sandwiched by PMMA layers. Despite its simplified configuration, this new device created monodisperse droplets at an even faster rate (>1000 droplets per second).     

Point-of-care detection of Microcystin-LR with a personal glucose meter in drinking water source

In this study, we described a point-of-care sensing protocol for rapid and sensitive detection of Microcystin-LR (MC-LR) in water by personal glucose meter. The POCT method possessed good reproducibility, selectivity, and stability, which may have potential for many other on-site detection applications.     

Investigation of pumping mechanism for non‐Newtonian blood flow with AC electrothermal forces in a microchannel by hybrid boundary element method and immersed boundary‐lattice Boltzmann method

Efficient pumping of blood flow in a microfluidic device is essential for rapid detection of bacterial bloodstream infections (BSI) using alternating current (AC) electrokinetics. Compared with AC electro‐osmosis (ACEO) phenomenon, the advantage of AC electrothermal (ACET) mechanism is its capability of pumping biofluids with high electrical conductivities at a relatively high AC voltage frequency. In the current work, the microfluidic pumping of non‐Newtonian blood flow using ACET forces is investigated in detail by modeling its multi‐physics process with hybrid boundary element method (BEM) and immersed boundary‐lattice Boltzmann method (IB‐LBM). The Carreau–Yasuda model is used to simulate the realistic rheological behavior of blood flow. The ACET pumping efficiency of blood flow is studied in terms of different AC voltage magnitudes and frequencies, thermal boundary conditions of electrodes, electrode configurations, channel height, and the channel length per electrode pair. Besides, the effect of rheological behavior on the blood flow velocity is theoretically analyzed by comparing with the Newtonian fluid flow using scaling law analysis under the same physical conditions. The results indicate that the rheological behavior of blood flow and its frequency‐dependent dielectric property make the pumping phenomenon of blood flow different from that of the common Newtonian aqueous solutions. It is also demonstrated that using a thermally insulated electrode could enhance the pumping efficiency dramatically. Besides, the results conclude that increasing the AC voltage magnitude is a more economical pumping approach than adding the number of electrodes with the same energy consumption when the Joule heating effect is acceptable.     

三功能策略设计制备具有优异低温抗积碳性能的Ni-CeO2@SiO2催化剂催化甲烷干重整反应

随着全球人为温室气体排放量(主要是甲烷和二氧化碳)的增加,全球变暖的趋势逐渐增加,因此,迫切需要通过各种技术来捕获和利用这些温室气体.甲烷干气重整反应(DRM)可以有效地将甲烷和二氧化碳这两种资源丰富、价格低廉的温室气体转化为高附加值化学品,减少它们向大气排放.尽管DRM工艺的应用具有许多优势,但是反应期间碳沉积和活性组分的烧结是阻碍其工业应用的两个主要原因.这些碳沉积物可能覆盖活性中心或阻塞催化剂的孔道,从而导致催化剂活性降低.镍基催化剂因其价格低廉、初始活性高和资源丰富而得到广泛的应用.但应用于DRM反应的Ni基催化剂在反应中容易烧结和积碳,导致催化剂迅速失活.为解决上述问题,本文从三功能策略角度出发,即SiO2壳层的限域作用和Ni-Ce之间的协同作用以及CeO2的消除积碳作用,采用原位一锅法设计合成了一种限域型Ni-CeO2核壳结构催化剂(Ni-CeO2@SiO2).通过X射线衍射、透射电子显微镜、能量色散X射线光谱、N2吸附/脱附、氢气程序升温还原和脱附、氧气程序升温脱附、拉曼光谱、热重分析和原位漫反射红外傅里叶变换光谱测试对催化剂进行了系统的表征,来揭示催化剂的理化性质和反应机理.催化剂应用于甲烷干气重整反应结果表明,在温度区间为550～800℃时,与传统浸渍法合成的催化剂相比,Ni-CeO2@SiO2催化剂具有更高的活性.高温800℃下的稳定性测试结果显示,传统浸渍法合成的催化剂在反应20 h后就出现了大量的积碳且活性下降明显;而Ni-CeO2@SiO2催化剂在800℃下反应100 h后未检测到积碳,并且催化剂中的Ni纳米颗粒的平均粒径从5.01 nm仅增长到5.77 nm,表现出很好的高温抗积碳和耐烧结性能.值得注意的是,Ni-CeO2@SiO2催化剂在低温600℃(形成碳沉积的最可能温度区域)下反应20h后也未检测到积碳的形成,表现出催化剂良好的低温稳定性和抗积碳性能.这可能归因于对Ni-CeO2@SiO2催化剂的三功能作用,即多孔二氧化硅壳层的限域作用、Ni与CeO2之间强的金属-金属氧化物相互作用以及具有丰富活性氧物种CeO2的消除积碳的作用.通过原位漫反射红外傅里叶变换光谱测试来探究反应机理.结果 表明,DRM反应在Ni-CeO2@SiO2催化剂上遵循L-H机理,添加CeO2可以消除碳沉积并促进CO2活化.该三功能策略为设计其他应用于DRM的高性能催化剂提供了指导,有望加快该工艺的工业化.