Open AccessIntegrated Microfluidic Membrane Transistor Utilizing Chemical Information for On-Chip Flow Control
Author(s) -
Philipp Frank,
Joerg Schreiter,
Sebastian Haefner,
Georgi Paschew,
Andreas Voigt,
Andreas Richter
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0161024
Subject(s) - microfluidics , transistor , nanotechnology , flow control (data) , electronics , materials science , computer science , electrical engineering , voltage , engineering , computer network
Microfluidics is a great enabling technology for biology, biotechnology, chemistry and general life sciences. Despite many promising predictions of its progress, microfluidics has not reached its full potential yet. To unleash this potential, we propose the use of intrinsically active hydrogels, which work as sensors and actuators at the same time, in microfluidic channel networks. These materials transfer a chemical input signal such as a substance concentration into a mechanical output. This way chemical information is processed and analyzed on the spot without the need for an external control unit. Inspired by the development electronics, our approach focuses on the development of single transistor-like components, which have the potential to be used in an integrated circuit technology. Here, we present membrane isolated chemical volume phase transition transistor (MIS-CVPT). The device is characterized in terms of the flow rate from source to drain, depending on the chemical concentration in the control channel, the source-drain pressure drop and the operating temperature.