Fluorescent-Probe Characterization for Pore-Space Mapping with Single-Particle Tracking

Porous solids often contain complex pore networks with pores of various sizes. Tracking individual fluorescent probes as they diffuse through porous materials can be used to characterize pore networks at tens of nanometers resolution. However, understanding the motion behavior of fluorescent probes in confinement is crucial to reliably derive pore network properties. Here, we introduce well-defined lithography-made model pores developed to study probe behavior in confinement. We investigated the influence of probe-host interactions on diffusion and trapping of confined single-emitter quantum-dot probes. Using the pH-responsiveness of the probes, we were able to largely suppress trapping at the pore walls. This enabled us to define experimental conditions for mapping of the accessible pore space of a one-dimensional pore array as well as a real-life polymerization-catalyst-support particle.

Laser Controlled Manipulation of Microbubbles on a Surface with Silica-Coated Gold Nanoparticle Array

Microbubble generation and manipulation play critical roles in diverse applications such as microfluidic mixing, pumping, and microrobot propulsion. However, existing methods are typically limited to lateral movements on customized substrates or rely on specific liquids with particular properties or designed concentration gradients, thereby hindering their practical applications. To address this challenge, this paper presents a method that enables robust vertical manipulation of microbubbles. By focusing a resonant laser on hydrophilic silica-coated gold nanoparticle arrays immersed in water, plasmonic microbubbles are generated and detach from the substrates immediately upon cessation of laser irradiation. Using simple laser pulse control, it can achieve an adjustable size and frequency of bubble bouncing, which is governed by the movement of the three-phase contact line during surface wetting. Furthermore, it demonstrates that rising bubbles can be pulled back by laser irradiation induced thermal Marangoni flow, which is verified by particle image velocimetry measurements and numerical simulations. This study provides novel insights into flexible bubble manipulation and integration in microfluidics, with significant implications for various applications including mixing, drug delivery, and the development of soft actuators.

Droplet microreactor for high-throughput fluorescence-based measurements of single catalyst particle acidity

The particles of heterogeneous catalysts differ greatly in size, morphology, and most importantly, in activity. Studying these catalyst particles in batch typically results in ensemble averages, without any information at the level of individual catalyst particles. To date, the study of individual catalyst particles has been rewarding but is still rather slow and often cumbersome¹. Furthermore, these valuable in-depth studies at the single particle level lack statistical relevance. Here, we report the development of a droplet microreactor for high-throughput fluorescence-based measurements of the acidities of individual particles in fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) equilibrium catalysts (ECAT). This method combines systematic screening of single catalyst particles with statistical relevance. An oligomerization reaction of 4-methoxystyrene, catalyzed by the Brønsted acid sites inside the zeolite domains of the ECAT particles, was performed on-chip at 95 °C. The fluorescence signal generated by the reaction products inside the ECAT particles was detected near the outlet of the microreactor. The high-throughput acidity screening platform was capable of detecting ~1000 catalyst particles at a rate of 1 catalyst particle every 2.4 s. The number of detected catalyst particles was representative of the overall catalyst particle population with a confidence level of 95%. The measured fluorescence intensities showed a clear acidity distribution among the catalyst particles, with the majority (96.1%) showing acidity levels belonging to old, deactivated catalyst particles and a minority (3.9%) exhibiting high acidity levels. The latter are potentially of high interest, as they reveal interesting new physicochemical properties indicating why the particles were still highly acidic and reactive.

Reduction of Taylor-Aris dispersion by lateral mixing for chromatographic applications

Chromatographic columns are suffering from Taylor-Aris dispersion, especially for slowly diffusing molecules such as proteins. Since downscaling the channel size to reduce Taylor-Aris dispersion meets fundamental pressure limitations, new strategies are needed to further improve chromatography beyond its current limits. In this work we demonstrate a method to reduce Taylor-Aris dispersion by lateral mixing in a newly designed silicon AC-electroosmotic flow mixer. We obtained a reduction in κ_aris by a factor of three in a 40 μm × 20 μm microchannel, corresponding to a plate height gain of 2 to 3 under unretained conditions at low to high Pe values. We also demonstrate an improvement of a reverse-phase chromatographic separation of coumarins.

Plasmonic Bubble Nucleation and Growth in Water: Effect of Dissolved Air

Under continuous laser irradiation, noble metal nanoparticles immersed in water can quickly heat up, leading to the nucleation of so-called plasmonic bubbles. In this work, we want to further understand the bubble nucleation and growth mechanism. In particular, we quantitatively study the effect of the amount of dissolved air on the bubble nucleation and growth dynamics, both for the initial giant bubble, which forms shortly after switching on the laser and is mainly composed of vapor, and for the final life phase of the bubble, during which it mainly contains air expelled from water. We found that the bubble nucleation temperature depends on the gas concentration: the higher the gas concentration, the lower the bubble nucleation temperature. Also, the long-term diffusion-dominated bubble growth is governed by the gas concentration. The radius of the bubbles grows as R(t) ∝ t ^1/3 for air-equilibrated and air-oversaturated water. In contrast, in partially degassed water, the growth is much slower since, even for the highest temperature we achieve, the water remains undersaturated.

Wafer-scale fabrication of high-quality tunable gold nanogap arrays for surface-enhanced Raman scattering

We report a robust and high-yield fabrication method for wafer-scale patterning of high-quality arrays of dense gold nanogaps, combining displacement Talbot lithography based shrink-etching with dry etching, wet etching, and thin film deposition techniques. By using the self-sharpening of <111>-oriented silicon crystal planes during the wet etching process, silicon structures with extremely smooth nanogaps are obtained. Subsequent conformal deposition of a silicon nitride layer and a gold layer results in dense arrays of narrow gold nanogaps. Using this method, we successfully fabricate high-quality Au nanogaps down to 10 nm over full wafer areas. Moreover, the gap spacing can be tuned by changing the thickness of deposited Au layers. Since the roughness of the template is minimized by the crystallographic etching of silicon, the roughness of the gold nanogaps depends almost exclusively on the roughness of the sputtered gold layers. Additionally, our fabricated Au nanogaps show a significant enhancement of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) signals of benzenethiol molecules chemisorbed on the structure surface, at an average enhancement factor up to 1.5 × 10⁶.

A miniaturized push-pull-perfusion probe for few-second sampling of neurotransmitters in the mouse brain

Measuring biomolecule concentrations in the brain of living animals, in real time, is a challenging task, especially when detailed information at high temporal resolution is also required. Traditionally, microdialysis probes are used that generally have sampling areas in the order of about 1 mm2, and provide information on concentrations with a temporal resolution of at least several minutes. In this paper, we present a novel miniaturized push-pull perfusion sampling probe that uses an array of small 3 μm-wide sampling channels to sample neurotransmitters at a typical recovery rate of 61%, with a reduced risk of clogging. The added feature to segment the dialysate inside the probe into small water-in-decane droplets enables the detection of concentrations with a temporal resolution of a few seconds. Here we used the probe for in vivo recordings of neurotransmitter glutamate released upon electrical stimulation in the brain of a mouse to demonstrate the feasibility of the probe for real-time neurochemical brain analysis.

Gradient in the electric field for particle position detection in microfluidic channels

In this work, a new method to track particles in microfluidic channels is presented. Particle position tracking in microfluidic systems is crucial to characterize sorting systems or to improve the analysis of cells in impedance flow cytometry studies. By developing an electric field gradient in a two parallel electrode array the position of the particles can be tracked in one axis by impedance analysis. This method can track the particle's position at lower frequencies and measure the conductivity of the system at higher frequencies. A 3-D simulation was performed showing particle position detection and conductivity analysis. To experimentally validate the technique, a microfluidic chip that develops a gradient in the electric field was fabricated and used to detect the position of polystyrene particles in one axis and measure their conductivity at low and high frequencies, respectively.

Integrated microfluidic biosensing platform for simultaneous confocal microscopy and electrophysiological measurements on bilayer lipid membranes and ion channels

Combining high-resolution imaging and electrophysiological recordings is key for various types of experimentation on lipid bilayers and ion channels. Here, we propose an integrated biosensing platform consisting of a microfluidic cartridge and a dedicated chip-holder to conduct such dual measurements on suspended lipid bilayers, in a user-friendly manner. To illustrate the potential of the integrated platform, we characterize lipid bilayers in terms of thickness and fluidity while simultaneously monitoring single ion channel currents. For that purpose, POPC lipid bilayers are supplemented with a fluorescently-tagged phospholipid (NBD-PE, 1% mol) for Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP) measurements and a model ion channel (gramicidin, 1 nM). These combined measurements reveal that NBD-PE has no effect on the lipid bilayer thickness while gramicidin induces thinning of the membrane. Furthermore, the presence of gramicidin does not alter the lipid bilayer fluidity. Surprisingly, in lipid bilayers supplemented with both probes, a reduction in gramicidin open probability and lifetime is observed compared to lipid bilayers with gramicidin only, suggesting an influence of NBD-PE on the gramicidin ion function. Altogether, our proposed microfluidic biosensing platform in combination with the herein presented multi-parametric measurement scheme paves the way to explore the interdependent relationship between lipid bilayer properties and ion channel function.

Exploiting biased reptation for continuous flow preparative DNA fractionation in a versatile microfluidic platform

A new approach is presented for preparative, continuous flow fractionation of sub-10-kbp DNA fragments, which exploits the variation in the field-dependent mobility of the DNA molecules based on their length. Orthogonally pulsed electric fields of significantly different magnitudes are applied to a microchip filled with a sieving matrix of 1.2% agarose gel. Using this method, we demonstrate a high-resolution separation of 0.5, 1, 2, 5, and 10 kbp DNA fragments within 2 min. During the separation, DNA fragments are also purified from other ionic species. Preparative fractionation of sub-10-kbp DNA molecules plays an important role in second-generation sequencing. The presented device performs rapid high-resolution fractionation and it can be reliably manufactured with simple microfabrication procedures.

Towards microfluidic sperm refinement: impedance-based analysis and sorting of sperm cells

The use of high quality semen for artificial insemination in the livestock industry is essential for successful outcome. Insemination using semen with a high number of sperm cells containing morphological defects has a negative impact on fertilization outcome. Therefore, semen with a high number of these abnormal cells is discarded in order to maintain high fertilization potential, resulting in the loss of a large number of morphologically normal sperm cells (up to 70-80% of original sample). A commonly occurring morphological sperm anomaly is the cytoplasmic droplet on the sperm flagella. Currently, no techniques are available to extract morphologically normal sperm cells from rejected samples. Therefore, we aim to develop a microfluidic setup which is able to detect and sort morphologically normal sperm cells label-free and non-invasively. In a proof-of-concept experiment, differential impedance measurements were used to detect the presence of cytoplasmic droplets on sperm flagella, which was quantified by calculating the area under the curve (AUC) of the corresponding impedance peaks. A receiver operating characteristic curve of this electrical analysis method showed the good predictive power of this analysis method (AUC value of 0.85). Furthermore, we developed a label-free cell sorting system using LabVIEW, which is capable of sorting sperm cells based on impedance. In a proof-of-concept experiment, sperm cells and 3 μm beads were sorted label-free and non-invasively using impedance detection and dielectrophoresis sorting. These experiments present our first attempt to perform sperm refinement using microfluidic technology.

Photopatterning of Hydrogel Microarrays in Closed Microchips

To date, optical lithography has been extensively used for in situ patterning of hydrogel structures in a scale range from hundreds of microns to a few millimeters. The two main limitations which prevent smaller feature sizes of hydrogel structures are (1) the upper glass layer of a microchip maintains a large spacing (typically 525 μm) between the photomask and hydrogel precursor, leading to diffraction of UV light at the edges of mask patterns, (2) diffusion of free radicals and monomers results in irregular polymerization near the illumination interface. In this work, we present a simple approach to enable the use of optical lithography to fabricate hydrogel arrays with a minimum feature size of 4 μm inside closed microchips. To achieve this, we combined two different techniques. First, the upper glass layer of the microchip was thinned by mechanical polishing to reduce the spacing between the photomask and hydrogel precursor, and thereby the diffraction of UV light at the edges of mask patterns. The polishing process reduces the upper layer thickness from ∼525 to ∼100 μm, and the mean surface roughness from 20 to 3 nm. Second, we developed an intermittent illumination technique consisting of short illumination periods followed by relatively longer dark periods, which decrease the diffusion of monomers. Combination of these two methods allows for fabrication of 0.4 × 10(6) sub-10 μm sized hydrogel patterns over large areas (cm(2)) with high reproducibility (∼98.5% patterning success). The patterning method is tested with two different types of photopolymerizing hydrogels: polyacrylamide and polyethylene glycol diacrylate. This method enables in situ fabrication of well-defined hydrogel patterns and presents a simple approach to fabricate 3-D hydrogel matrices for biomolecule separation, biosensing, tissue engineering, and immobilized protein microarray applications.

Microfluidic single sperm entrapment and analysis

Selection of healthy spermatozoa is of crucial importance for the success rates of assisted reproduction technologies (ART) such as in vitro fertilization and intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection. Although sperm selection for ART procedures is predominantly based on sperm motility, successful fertilization is not predicted by good motility alone. For example, sperm characteristics such as the acrosome state and DNA integrity have shown significant impact on ART outcome. Although fertilization can be achieved with a single spermatozoon of high quality, current quality assessments are population-based and do not allow investigation of multiple sperm characteristics on a single spermatozoon simultaneously. In order to study sperm cells on the single cell level, we designed and characterized a PDMS microfluidic platform that allows single sperm entrapment. After spatially confining individual sperm cells within microfluidic cell traps, the cell viability, chromosomal content and acrosome state were studied. This platform is suitable for the analysis of individual sperm cells, which could be exploited for (non-invasive) sperm analysis and selection by impedance or Raman spectroscopy.

Large scale patterning of hydrogel microarrays using capillary pinning

Capillary barriers provide a simple and elegant means for autonomous fluid-flow control in microfluidic systems. In this work, we report on the fabrication of periodic hydrogel microarrays in closed microfluidic systems using non-fluorescent capillary barriers. This design strategy enables the fabrication of picoliter-volume patterns of photopolymerized and thermo-gelling hydrogels without any defects and distortions.

Wafer-scale fabrication of glass-FEP-glass microfluidic devices for lipid bilayer experiments

We report a wafer-scale fabrication process for the production of glass-FEP-glass microdevices using UV-curable adhesive (NOA81) as gluing material, which is applied using a novel "spin & roll" approach. Devices are characterized for the uniformity of the gluing layer, presence of glue in the microchannels, and alignment precision. Experiments on lipid bilayers with electrophysiological recordings using a model pore-forming polypeptide are demonstrated.

Make it spin: individual trapping of sperm for analysis and recovery using micro-contact printing

In this article, we describe the development of a high throughput platform to spatially manipulate viable sperm for motility measurements and recovery of the best single sperm for fertilization purposes. Micro-contact printing was used to pattern islands of adhesive proteins (fibronectin) separated by sperm repellent species (Pluronic acid F-127) on commercially available polystyrene substrates. Following washing, arrays of viable single sperm were captured onto the islands demonstrating for the first time that sperm can be trapped by micro-contact printing with patterning efficiency of 90% while retaining 100% viability. These were then subjected to motility analysis whilst remaining spatially confined to the islands. Single sperm motility was assessed (n = 37) by software analysis measuring the number of rotations per second (degrees s⁻¹). The assignment of array coordinates allows the more active single sperm to be easily identified and recovered by a simple micromanipulator pipette aspiration step with automated possibility for assisted reproductive technologies or further quality correlation analysis. Taken together, we show for the first time a technique to simultaneously screen thousands of viable single sperm for motility assessment while retaining the ability for single species recovery for enhanced fertilization purposes.

High yield, reproducible and quasi-automated bilayer formation in a microfluidic format

A microfluidic platform is reported for various experimentation schemes on cell membrane models and membrane proteins using a combination of electrical and optical measurements, including confocal microscopy. Bilayer lipid membranes (BLMs) are prepared in the device upon spontaneous and instantaneous thinning of the lipid solution in a 100-μm dry-etched aperture in a 12.5-μm thick Teflon foil. Using this quasi-automated approach, a remarkable 100% membrane formation yield is reached (including reflushing in 4% of the cases), and BLMs are stable for up to 36 h. Furthermore, the potential of this platform is demonstrated for (i) the in-depth characterization of BLMs comprising both synthetic and natural lipids (1,2-diphytanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPhPC) and L-α-phosphatidylcholine (L-α-PC)/cholesterol, respectively) in terms of seal resistance, capacitance, surface area, specific capacitance, and membrane hydrophobic thickness; (ii) confocal microscopy imaging of phase separation in sphingomyelin/L-α-PC/cholesterol ternary membranes; (iii) electrical measurements of individual nanopores (α-hemolysin, gramicidin); and (iv) indirect assessment of the alteration of membrane properties upon exposure to chemical stimuli using the natural nanopore gramicidin as a sensor.

Microfluidic DNA fragmentation for on-chip genomic analysis

We report a high-throughput clog-free microfluidic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fragmentation chip that is based on hydrodynamic shearing. Salmon sperm DNA has been reproducibly fragmented down to ∼ 5k bp fragment lengths by applying low hydraulic pressures (≤1 bar) across micromachined constrictions positioned in larger microfluidic channels that create point-sink flow with large velocity gradients near the constriction entrance. Long constrictions (100 µm) produce shorter fragment lengths compared to shorter constrictions (10 µm), while increasing the hydrodynamic pressure requirement. Sample recirculation (10 ×) in short constrictions reduces the mean fragment length and fragment length variation, and improves yield compared to single-pass experiments without increasing the hydrodynamic pressure.

A new floating electrode structure for generating homogeneous electrical fields in microfluidic channels

In this article a new parallel electrode structure in a microfluidic channel is described that makes use of a floating electrode to get a homogeneous electrical field. Compared to existing parallel electrode structures, the new structure has an easier production process and there is no need for an electrical connection to both sides of the microfluidic chip. With the new chip design, polystyrene beads suspended in background electrolyte have been detected using electrical impedance measurements. The results of electrical impedance changes caused by beads passing the electrodes are compared with results in a similar planar electrode configuration. It is shown that in the new configuration the coefficient of variation of the impedance changes is lower compared to the planar configuration (0.39 versus 0.56) and less dependent on the position of the beads passage in the channel as a result of the homogeneous electrical field. To our knowledge this is the first time that a floating electrode is used for the realization of a parallel electrode structure. The proposed production method for parallel electrodes in microfluidic channels can easily be applied to other applications.

Al2O3/silicon nanoISFET with near ideal nernstian response

Nanoscale ISFET (ion sensitive field-effect transistor) pH sensors are presented that produce the well-known sub-nernstian pH-response for silicon dioxide (SiO(2)) surfaces and near ideal nernstian sensitivity for alumina (Al(2)O(3)) surfaces. Titration experiments of SiO(2) surfaces resulted in a varying pH sensitivity ∼20 mV/pH for pH near 2 and >45 mV/pH for pH > 5. Measured pH responses from titrations of thin (15 nm) atomic layer deposited (ALD) alumina (Al(2)O(3)) surfaces on the nanoISFETs resulted in near ideal nernstian pH sensitivity of 57.8 ± 1.2 mV/pH (pH range: 2-10; T = 22 °C) and temperature sensitivity of 0.19 mV/pH °C (22 °C ≤ T ≤ 40 °C). A comprehensive analytical model of the nanoISFET sensor, which is based on the combined Gouy-Chapman-Stern and Site-Binding (GCS-SB) model, accompanies the experimental results and an extracted ΔpK ≈ 1.5 from the measured responses further supports the near ideal nernstian pH sensitivity.

Electrokinetic label-free screening chip: a marriage of multiplexing and high throughput analysis using surface plasmon resonance imaging

We present an electrokinetic label-free biomolecular screening chip (Glass/PDMS) to screen up to 10 samples simultaneously using surface plasmon resonance imaging (iSPR). This approach reduces the duration of an experiment when compared to conventional experimental methods. This new device offers a high degree of parallelization not only for analyte samples, but also for multiplex analyte interactions where up to 90 ligands are immobilized on the sensing surface. The proof of concept has been demonstrated with well-known biomolecular interactant pairs. The new chip can be used for high throughput screening applications and kinetics parameter extraction, simultaneously, of interactant-protein complex formation.

Top-down fabrication of sub-30 nm monocrystalline silicon nanowires using conventional microfabrication

We report a new low-cost top-down silicon nanowire fabrication technology requiring only conventional microfabrication processes including microlithography, oxidation, and wet anisotropic plane-dependent etching; high quality silicon nanowire arrays can be easily made in any conventional microfabrication facility without nanolithography or expensive equipment. Silicon nanowires with scalable lateral dimensions ranging from 200 nm down to 10-20 nm and lengths up to approximately 100 microm can be precisely formed with near-perfect monocrystalline cross sections, atomically smooth surfaces, and wafer-scale yields greater than 90% using a novel size reduction method where silicon nanowires can be controllably scaled to any dimension and doping concentration independent of large contacting regions from a continuous layer of crystalline silicon.

Integrated Electrochemical Sensor Array for On-Line Monitoring of Yeast Fermentations

This paper describes the design, modeling, and experimental characterization of an electrochemical sensor array for on-line monitoring of fermentor conditions in both miniaturized cell assays and in industrial scale fermentations. The viable biomass concentration is determined from impedance spectroscopy. As a miniaturized electrode configuration with high cell constant is applied, the spectral conductivity variation is monitored instead of the permittivity variation. The dissolved oxygen concentration is monitored amperometrically using an ultramicroelectrode array, which is shown to have negligible flow dependence. pH is monitored using an ion-sensitive field effect transistor (ISFET), and a platinum thermistor is included for temperature measurements. All sensors were shown to be sufficiently accurate within the range relevant to yeast fermentations. The sensor array is shown to be very stable and durable and withstands steam-sterilization.

Continuous Flow Microfluidic Demixing of Electrolytes by Induced Charge Electrokinetics in Structured Electrode Arrays

A continuous flow microfluidic demixing process is realized. It utilizes high external electrical fields that are applied over electrically floating noble metal electrodes in an otherwise straight microchannel. The process converts axial electrical potential gradients into lateral molecular selective transport via a structure oriented ensemble of numerous electrodes. While the individual electrodes locally modify the electrolyte distribution by nonlinear electrokinetic effects and concentration polarization, the directed orientation of the electrode array combines the individual polarization zones to a dedicated molecular enrichment against the generated concentration gradient. A homogeneously concentrated electrolyte can be separated into arbitrarily shaped laminae of increased and depleted concentration by the presented microfluidic demixer.

Strongly accelerated and humidity-independent drying of nanochannels induced by sharp corners

Measurements are shown indicating that the drying rate of nanochannels can be enhanced by up to 3 orders of magnitude relative to drying by vapor diffusion, and that the drying rate is independent of the relative humidity of the environment up to a relative humidity of more than 90%. Micromachined Pyrex glass nanochannels of 72 nm height and with sharp corners (corner angles 7 degrees) were used. Available theory shows that the sharp corners function as a low-resistance pathway for liquid water, siphoning (wicking) the water to a location close to the channel exit before it evaporates. The described phenomena are of importance for the understanding of drying processes in industry and agriculture. The introduction of sharp corners or grooves can furthermore be beneficial for the functioning of microheat pipes and capillary-pumped loops.