Microfluidic device for robust generation of two-component liquid-in-air slugs with individually controlled composition.

ABSTRACT: Using liquid slugs as microreactors and microvessels enable precise control over the conditions of their contents on short-time scales for a wide variety of applications. Particularly for screening applications, there is a need for control of slug parameters such as size and composition. We describe a new microfluidic approach for creating slugs in air, each comprising a size and composition that can be selected individually for each slug. Two-component slugs are formed by first metering the desired volume of each reagent, merging the two volumes into an end-to-end slug, and propelling the slug to induce mixing. Volume control is achieved by a novel mechanism: two closed chambers on the chip are initially filled with air, and a valve in each is briefly opened to admit one of the reagents.

SUBMITTER: Liu K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2944379 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature