High-throughput microreactor fabricated in silicon for chemical and biological engineering

摘要

This work describes the development of a silicon micromixer for applications in high-throughput microfluidics. The mixing principle is based on chaotic advection of two merged fluid streams in a serpentine shaped 3D microchannel. The special design of the micromixer includes a cooling to remove the heat generated during the chemical reaction, two temperature sensors for thermal management of the whole device and an interface for IR spectroscopy. The micromixer was fabricated using KOH wet-etching technique from two silicon wafers. Numerical simulation and fluidic measurements were carried out to characterise the micromixer. Flow rates up to 0.12 l/min were achieved at pressure drop less than 1.8 bar. The micromixer was developed for chemical engineering applications in modular microreaction systems.