Investigates the potential for building smart seams by incorporating optic fibers ultrasonically. The heating and bonding mechanisms of ultrasonic welding process in fabrics were studied. Battle dress uniform (BDU) (50/50 nylon/cotton), 100 percent cotton, 100 percent polyester and Nomex fabrics were used and were bonded ultrasonically with and without polyurethane adhesives. The effects of three important welding parameters, namely weld pressure, weld time and amplitude of vibration, on the joint strength and the temperature profile at the interface were examined. The temperature profiles for different fabrics were measured during ultrasonic welding process. The attenuation degree of signal transition properties of optic fibers incorporated was tested to determine if ultrasonic process provided a possible way of embedding optic fibers into seams and achieving sufficient joint strength while the signal transmission properties of optic fibers incorporated were not changed significantly.

We report on a silicon microfluidic platform that enables integration of transparent μm-scale microfluidic channels, an on-chip pL-volume droplet generator, and a nano-electrospray ionization emitter that enables spatial and temporal phase separation for mass spectrometry analysis.

While droplet microfluidics is becoming an effective tool for biomedical research, sensitive detection of droplet content is still challenging, especially for multiplexed analytes compartmentalized within ultrasmall droplets down to picoliter volumes. To enable such measurements, we demonstrate a silicon-based integrated microfluidic platform for multiplexed analysis of neurochemicals in picoliter droplets via nanoelectrospray ionization (nESI)-mass spectrometry (MS). An integrated silicon microfluidic chip comprising downscaled 7 μm-radius channels, a compact T-junction for droplet generation, and an integrated nESI emitter tip is used for segmentation of analytes into picoliter compartments and their efficient delivery for subsequent MS detection. The developed system demonstrates effective detection of multiple neurochemicals encapsulated within oil-isolated plugs down to low picoliter volumes. Quantitative measurements for each neurochemical demonstrate limits of detection at the attomole level. Such results are promising for applications involving label-free and small-volume detection for monitoring a range of brain chemicals.

A silicon integrated microfluidics system prints picoliter-segmented analytes for attomole-level chemical analysis with mass spectrometry imaging.

No abstract