Nanofluidic Fluidics Microfluidics

Duong-Hong D, Wang J-S, Liu G, Chen Y, Han J, Hadjiconstantinou N (2008) Dissipative particle dynamics simulations of electroosmotic flow in nano-fluidic devices. Microfluid Nanofluid 4(3) 219-225... 

Crane NB, Onen O, Carballo J, Ni Q, Guldiken R (2013) Fluidic assembly at the microscale progress and prospects. Microfluid Nanofluid 14(3 ) 383-419... 

Compared to macroscale fluidic channels, the surface-to-volume ratio in microfluidic and nanofluidic channels is significantly larger, and consequently the physical effects caused by channel surfaces become more prominent. Therefore, it also becomes increasingly important to understand microfluidic and nanofluidic phenomena at these surfaces. A particular fluorescence... 

The methods discussed before have immense potential in biosensor applications. This field of research is getting more critical for applications related to chemistry analysis, particle transportation in fluidic circuit, and DNA sequencing. The standard fabrication procedure using soft lithography and e-beam lithography can realize many microfluidic and nanofluidic circuits coupled with useful functionalities. There are a few directions that can lead to new discoveries in fundamental research and its applications. 

Sputtering has been used for many years to produce the chromium-coated photomasks that are often used in the production of glass microdevices. Recently, sputtering has become a common technique for the deposition of thin films in microfluidic and nanofluidic devices. For most applications, it is used as a convenient means for the production of patterned electrodes. However, as will be shown below, sputtering can be used to achieve far more than this. In the not so distant future, it is likely that the enormous versatility of this technique will be exploited for the fabrication of miniaturized fluidic devices with greatly enhanced functionality that would be difficult or impossible to produce by other means. 

Greiner R, Allerdissen M, Voigt A, Richter A (2012) Fluidic microchemomechanical integrated circuits processing chemical information. Lab Chip 12 5034-5044 Hart RA, da Silva AK (2012) Self-optimizing, thermally adaptive microftuidic flow structures. Microfluid Nanofluid 14 121-132... 

The birth of microfluidic devices was seen as an answer to the question of how to provide quicker chemical analysis, use fewer reagents, generate less waste, and hence enable the use of low-cost devices. A major topic of interest today is to decrease the dimensions of fluidic devices, from microfluidic to nanofluidic, to enhance the advantages outlined earlier while addressing questions related to fundamental phenomena of single-molecule manipulation, fluidic transport, and molecular behavior at the nanoscale. 

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