Flow Batteries for Microfluidic Networks: Configuring An Electroosmotic Pump for Nonterminal Positions

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• 作者：Chiyang He ; Joann J. Lu ; Zhijian Jia ; Wei Wang ; Xiayan Wang ; Purnendu K. Dasgupta ; Shaorong Liu
• 刊名：Analytical Chemistry
• 出版年：2011
• 出版时间：April 1, 2011
• 年：2011
• 卷：83
• 期：7
• 页码：2430-2433
• 全文大小：726K
• 年卷期：v.83,no.7(April 1, 2011)
• ISSN：1520-6882

文摘

A micropump provides flow and pressure for a lab-on-chip device, just as a battery supplies current and voltage for an electronic system. Numerous micropumps have been developed, but none is as versatile as a battery. One cannot easily insert a micropump into a nonterminal position of a fluidic line without affecting the rest of the fluidic system, and one cannot simply connect several micropumps in series to enhance the pressure output, etc. In this work we develop a flow battery (or pressure power supply) to address this issue. A flow battery consists of a +EOP (in which the liquid flows in the same direction as the field gradient) and a 鈭扙OP (in which the liquid flows opposite to the electric field gradient), and the outlet of the +EOP is directly connected to the inlet of the 鈭扙OP. An external high voltage is applied to this outlet鈭抜nlet joint via a short gel-filled capillary that allows ions but not bulk liquid flow, while the +EOP鈥檚 inlet and the 鈭扙OP鈥檚 outlet (the flow battery鈥檚 inlet and outlet) are grounded. This flow battery can be deployed anywhere in a fluidic network without electrically affecting the rest of the system. Several flow batteries can be connected in series to enhance the pressure output to drive HPLC separations. In a fluidic system powered by flow batteries, a hydraulic equivalent of Ohm鈥檚 law can be applied to analyze system pressures and flow rates.