Microfluidics for Miniaturized Laboratories on a Chip

Microfluidic systems promise solutions for high throughput and highly specific analysis for biology, medicine and chemistry while consuming only tiny amounts of reactants and space. On these lab‐on‐a‐chip platforms often multiple physical effects such as electrokinetic, acoustic or capillary phenome...

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Veröffentlicht in:Chemphyschem 2008-10, Vol.9 (15), p.2140-2156
Hauptverfasser: Franke, Thomas A., Wixforth, Achim
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Microfluidic systems promise solutions for high throughput and highly specific analysis for biology, medicine and chemistry while consuming only tiny amounts of reactants and space. On these lab‐on‐a‐chip platforms often multiple physical effects such as electrokinetic, acoustic or capillary phenomena from various disciplines are exploited to gain the optimal functionality. The fluidics on these small length scales differ significantly from our experience of the macroscopic world. In this Review we survey some of the approaches and techniques to handle minute amounts of fluid volumes in microfluidic systems with special focus on surface acoustic wave driven fluidics, a technique developed in our laboratory. Here, we outline the basics of this technique and demonstrate, for example, how acoustic mixing and fluid actuation is realized. Furthermore we discuss the interplay of different physical effects in microfluidic systems and illustrate their usefulness for several applications. Hi‐tech comes in small packages: Current state‐of‐the‐art lab‐on‐a‐chip technology is presented in this Review. On these small length scales the fluidics differ significantly from the macroscopic world. Actuation and mixing of fluids by surface acoustic waves are emphasized, with blood flow on a chip (see picture) providing a striking example of the potential of the lab‐on‐a‐chip.
ISSN:1439-4235
1439-7641
DOI:10.1002/cphc.200800349