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Micromixer utilizing electrokinetic instability‐induced shedding effect
Author(s) -
Tai ChangHsien,
Yang RueyJen,
Huang MinZhong,
Liu ChiaWei,
Tsai ChienHsiung,
Fu LungMing
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
electrophoresis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.666
H-Index - 158
eISSN - 1522-2683
pISSN - 0173-0835
DOI - 10.1002/elps.200500900
Subject(s) - micromixer , electrokinetic phenomena , micromixing , mixing (physics) , materials science , intensity (physics) , analytical chemistry (journal) , instability , voltage , mechanics , microfluidics , chemistry , optics , nanotechnology , electrical engineering , chromatography , physics , engineering , quantum mechanics
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.