Education: a microfluidic platform for university-level analytical chemistry laboratories

Greener, Jesse; Tumarkin, Ethan; Debono, Michael; Dicks, Andrew P.; Kumacheva, Eugenia

doi:10.1039/c2lc20951a

Cited by 35 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…In lieu of lithography processes that require a cleanroom, potentially harmful chemicals, and expensive pieces of equipment, students are meant to design and fabricate a T-junction to form large plugs using coffee stirrers as a master mold substitute. Complete negative replicas can be made in hours by curing PDMS, or an appropriate alternate such as Jell-O 6 , over the coffee stirrers, removing the cast, and bonding to a substrate. Coffee stirrers were obtained from a local coffee shop and measured to be 600 μm in width.…”

Section: Experimental Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…soft lithography 5 ), and experimentation at the microscale where viscous forces tend to dominate. Looking forward, student exposure to microfluidics at an early stage will be instrumental to the field’s continued growth, in order to promote the utilization of microfluidics 6 both as a tool to simplify existing experiments and as an enabling method to drive new research and products 7 . Additionally, making microfluidic training available to students at younger ages will better prepare them for new careers in biotechnology, biomedicine and the life sciences, and will broaden awareness of this growing field.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6–10 Yang et al 8 for instance developed a method to teach microfluidics to young students and the general public using Jell-O as a casting material, producing three types of molds to model pressure-driven flow, a Y-channel, and a pH sensor. A great need for educational material to train in general microfluidics still exists, yet experiments designed for teaching microfluidics are few 10 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Low-cost experimentation for the study of droplet microfluidics

Bardin

Lee

2014

Lab Chip

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The continued growth of microfluidics into industry settings in areas such as point-of-care diagnostics and targeted therapeutics necessitates a workforce trained in microfluidic technologies and experimental methods. Laboratory courses for students at the university and high school levels will require cost-effective in-class demonstrations that instruct in chip design, fabrication, and experimentation at the microscale. We present a hand-operated pressure pumping system to form monodisperse picoliter to nanoliter droplet streams at low cost, and a series of exercises aimed at instructing in the specific art of droplet formation. Using this setup, the student is able to generate and observe the modes of droplet formation in flow-focusing devices, and the effect of device dimensions on the characteristics of formed droplets. Lastly, at ultra-low cost we demonstrate large plug formation in a T-junction using coffee stirrers as a master mold substitute. Our method reduces the cost of experimentation to enable intuitive instruction in droplet formation, with additional implications for creating droplets in the field or at point-of-care.

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Section: Experimental Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Low-cost experimentation for the study of droplet microfluidics

Bardin

Lee

2014

Lab Chip

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“…In science, engineering, and technology education, there is a similar trend towards sustainable laboratory work to reduce demands on educational institutions and enhance dissemination to schools with limited resources [5][6][7][8]. Many science and engineering topics, including fluid mechanics, heat transfer, chemical reaction engineering, molecular biotechnology, process modeling and control, can be taught and explored with microfluidic systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal imaging of microfluidic systems as a model for investigating energy efficiency

et al. 2015

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We explore the use of a commercial thermal imaging infrared camera (7-12 micron, uncooled microbolometer array, 320 x 240 resolution) to characterize microfluidic devices with the aims of: 1) evaluating the usefulness of thermal imaging to assess various flow configurations with respect to heat transfer, and 2) developing educational laboratory projects combining rapid prototyping, thermal imaging, microfluidics, and heat transfer. We investigated concurrent and countercurrent heat exchangers, mixing streams of different temperature (cold and hot water), mixing streams yielding a heat of mixing (ethanol and water), mixing streams yielding a heat of reaction (acid-base neutralization), and freezing and heating flowing streams in channels with a Peltier module. Energy efficiency can be assessed to determine the feasibility and effectiveness of microfluidic designs. Substantial improvements in mixing and heat transfer using a magnetic stirrer are demonstrated with thermal imaging.

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“…For STEM education, small-scale experimentation such as with microfluidics can alleviate demand on resources (lab space, consumables, safety and environmental compliances) and allow dissemination to institutions with constrained resources [5][6][7][8]. Various concepts in fluid mechanics, chemical reaction engineering, heat transfer, biotechnology, process modeling and process control can be demonstrated with microfluidic systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microscale Implementation and Image Analysis of Fluid Processes

Mauk¹,

Chiou²,

Varapula³

2016 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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Microscale fluidics offers new avenues for teaching CAD, prototyping, fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer, process engineering, control, and image analysis. Miniaturized fluid systems are implemented in credit card-sized, clear plastic 'chips' that host a network of conduits, chambers, filters, manifolds, and flow control devices. The chips are connected to programmable syringe pumps. With colored and fluorescent dyes, images and videos of flow characteristics and mixing can be captured, processed, and analyzed with low-cost CCD cameras and along with image processing software (ImageJ or MATLAB®). Moreover, heats of mixing, heats of reaction, and convective, conductive, and radiative heat transfer in fluid systems can be analyzed using thermal image infrared (8-12 microns) cameras. Student projects include CAD of microfluidic chips, fabrication of chips using a CO2 laser cutter, 3D-printer, or CNC mill; experimental setup on a desktop with programmable syringe pumps, sensors, and CCD and thermal infrared camera, experimentation, and analysis of images. We study concurrent and countercurrent heat exchangers, various active and passive mixers, heats of mixing between alcohols and aqueous salt solutions, and acid-base neutralization reactions. These laboratory projects provide instructive and accessible hands-on experimentation, at levels ranging from intuitive and visual to more analytical treatments, in subject areas of fluid mechanics, heat transfer, reaction engineering, image processing and machine vision, engineering modeling, and rapid prototyping. We emphasize skills and concepts gained for their relevancy to energy efficiency, sustainability, and green manufacturing.

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Education: a microfluidic platform for university-level analytical chemistry laboratories

Cited by 35 publications

References 11 publications

Low-cost experimentation for the study of droplet microfluidics

Low-cost experimentation for the study of droplet microfluidics

Thermal imaging of microfluidic systems as a model for investigating energy efficiency

Microscale Implementation and Image Analysis of Fluid Processes

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