Quantitative Spatial Mapping of Mixing in Microfluidic Systems

摘要

Microfluidics promises to revolutionize chemical analysis,synthesis,and biotechnology by combining processes such as mixing,separation,reaction,and detection in a single device.These systems function as "labs-on-a-chip",creating a technology that is low-cost,high-throughput,miniaturized,and automated.Their decreased size imparts microfluidics with many benefits,but miniaturization results in a fundamental change in flow characteristics.Turbulent flow predominates at the macroscale,whereas fluids flow in a laminar fashion at the microscale,without the random mixing that is characteristic of turbulence.These laminar flow conditions mean that multiple fluid streams tend to flow in parallel through microchannels,mixing only by diffusion across their interfaces.