Nanostructured materials microfluidization

Professor Eugenia Kumacheva is a Canada Research Chair in Advanced Polymer Materials. Her current research interests are in polymer micro- and nanostructured materials, hybrid materials, biomaterials, inorganic nanoscale materials, and microfluidics. 

The S5mthesis of hybrid nanostructured materials has become a major interdiscipUnaiy area of research over recent decades. Hylaid composite nanoparticles with relatively simple stracture are the most adjustably S3mthesized materials in microfluidics. Generally, just an appropriate reactants ratio, proper time for mixing and mass transfer, and relatively precise operation can S5mthesize... 

The obtained patterned polymer surfaces can also be replicated by metal thermal evaporation to produce nanostructured metallic films with holes or asperities of controlled size, as illustrated in Fig. 11.10. After deposition of a sufficiently thick metal layer, the polymer layer can be cleaved or dissolved away. This procedure allows an efficient and precise control of the metallic surface structure, with possible applications in materials science and photonics. The roughness of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) surfaces can be tuned by this technique if the PDMS is treated while cross-linking, which may be of interest for microfluidic applications. We have also observed that substrates of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), PS in the form of colloidal spheres and bulk, and semiciystalline films of polyethylene (PE) are prrMie to be structured by this technique, evidencing the versatility and potential for its widespread use. It may find applications in many different scientific and technological fields like nanoUthography, microfluidics, or flexible electronics. 

When discussing matrix-free LDI strategies, we should also mention one more related approach that resonated in the specialist literature over the past two decades. In desorption/ ionization on silicon (DIOS), a nanostructured silicon chip is utilized as the SALDI-assisting material [81]. After depositing sample solution on such a chip, the sample is ready for LDI-MS analysis. Furthermore, DIOS chips are compatible with microfluidic and microreactor systems [92, 93]. Thus, DIOS-MS has occasionally been implemented in TRMS-related measurements (see also Chapters 7 and 13). 

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