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Characterization of passive microfluidic mixers fabricated using soft lithography

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Abstract

This work characterizes microfluidic mixers fabricated using soft lithography without grooves or with grooves on the top and/or bottom of the channels. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether grooves on the top and bottom of the channel significantly improve mixing in microfluidic systems. The channels studied were 200 μm wide with repeating sets of alternating patterns of diagonal stripes and chevrons. The study employed confocal microscopy to investigate the mixing of a 0.1 wt% fluorescein solution with a deionized water solution. The results of the study indicate a 10% improvement in mixing over systems with grooves only on the top of the channel.

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the Office of Naval Research for a summer faculty fellowship and Thomas O’Shaughnessy for technical assistance. The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not reflect the opinion or policy of the US government, the US Navy, or the US Department of Defense.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemical Engineering Department, Tuskegee University, 522A Luther H. Foster Hall, Tuskegee, AL, 36088, USA

    T.M. Floyd-Smith

  2. Center for Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering, Naval Research Lab, Washington, DC, USA

    J.P. Golden, P.B. Howell & F.S. Ligler

Authors
  1. T.M. Floyd-Smith
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  2. J.P. Golden
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  3. P.B. Howell
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  4. F.S. Ligler
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Correspondence to T.M. Floyd-Smith.

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Floyd-Smith, T., Golden, J., Howell, P. et al. Characterization of passive microfluidic mixers fabricated using soft lithography. Microfluid Nanofluid 2, 180–183 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-005-0060-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-005-0060-9

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