High throughput microfluidic nanobubble generation by microporous membrane integration and controlled bubble shrinkage

Paknahad, Ali A.; Zalloum, Intesar O.; Karshafian, Raffi; Kolios, Michael C.; Tsai, Scott S.H.

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.09.066

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 43 publications

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“…Advances in microfluidics-related technologies have facilitated the widespread use of microfluidic platforms in various fields, including biology, chemistry, and medicine, owing to their numerous advantages (e.g., low sample consumption, rapid mass transport, massive parallelization, automation, and portability). − For robust microfluidic system operation, the microfluidic environment should be carefully controlled to prevent the entrapment of air bubbles within the channel. Bubbles in microchannels result in flow instability, causing device malfunction or poor performance. − For example, it can deteriorate cell viability owing to increased shear stress.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanostructured Substrate-Mediated Bubble Degassing in Microfluidic Systems

Lee,

Kim,

Lim

et al. 2024

Langmuir

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Microfluidic platforms have been widely used in a variety of fields owing to their numerous advantages. The prevention and prompt removal of air bubbles from microchannels are important to ensuring the optimal functioning of microfluidic devices. The entrapment of bubbles in the microchannels can result in flow instability and device performance disruption. Active and passive methods are the primary categories of degassing technologies. Active methods rely on external equipment, and passive methods operate autonomously without any external sources. This study proposed a passive degassing method that employs a nanoscale surface morphology integrated into the substrate of a microfluidic device. Nanostructures exhibit a microchannel geometry and are fabricated based on surface micromachining technology using silver ink and chemical etching. Consequently, the gas permeability is enhanced, resulting in effective degassing through the nanostructure. The performance of this degassing method was characterized under varying substrate permeabilities and input pressure conditions, and it was found that increased permeability facilitates the degassing performance. Furthermore, the applicability of our method was demonstrated by using a serpentine channel design prone to gas entrapment, particularly in the corner regions. The nanostructured substrate exhibited significantly improved degassing performance under the given pressure conditions in comparison to the glass substrate.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanostructured Substrate-Mediated Bubble Degassing in Microfluidic Systems

Lee,

Kim,

Lim

et al. 2024

Langmuir

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Nanoscale engineer: The revolutionary role of nanobubbles in the synthesis of functional nanomaterials

Wu,

Zhang,

et al. 2025

Desalination

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Air trap and removal on a pressure driven PDMS-based microfluidic device

Xu,

Ma,

Fan

2024

Review of Scientific Instruments

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With the development of microfluidic technology, microfluidic chips have played a positive role in applications such as cell culture, microfluidic PCR, and nanopore gene sequencing. However, the presence of bubbles interferes with fluid flow and has a significant impact on experimental results. There are many reasons for the generation of bubbles in microfluidic chips, such as pressure changes inside the chip, air vibration inside the chip, and the open chip guiding air into the chip when driving fluid. This study designed and prepared a microfluidic device based on polydimethylsiloxane. First, air was actively introduced into the microfluidic chip, and bubbles were captured through the microfluidic device to simulate the presence of bubbles inside the chip in biological experiments. To remove bubbles trapped in the microfluidic chip, distilled water, distilled water containing surfactants, and mineral oil were pumped into the microfluidic chip. We compared and discussed the bubble removal efficiency under different driving fluids, driving pressures, and open/closed channel configurations. This study helps to understand the mechanism of bubble formation and removal in microfluidic devices, optimize chip structure design and experimental reagent selection, prevent or eliminate bubbles, and reduce the impact of bubbles on experiments.

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High throughput microfluidic nanobubble generation by microporous membrane integration and controlled bubble shrinkage

Cited by 5 publications

References 43 publications

Nanostructured Substrate-Mediated Bubble Degassing in Microfluidic Systems

Nanostructured Substrate-Mediated Bubble Degassing in Microfluidic Systems

Nanoscale engineer: The revolutionary role of nanobubbles in the synthesis of functional nanomaterials

Air trap and removal on a pressure driven PDMS-based microfluidic device

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