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Control and Measurement of the Phase Behavior of Aqueous Solutions Using Microfluidics

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Jung-uk Shim,^† Galder Cristobal,^‡^‖ Darren R. Link,^‡ Todd Thorsen,^§ Yanwei Jia,^† Katie Piattelli,^† and Seth Fraden*^†

Contribution from the Complex Fluids Group, Martin Fisher School of Physics, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts 02454, Department of Physics and HSEAS, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, and Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2007, 129 (28), pp 8825–8835

DOI: 10.1021/ja071820f

Publication Date (Web): June 20, 2007

Section:

Apparatus and Plant Equipment

Abstract

A microfluidic device denoted the Phase Chip has been designed to measure and manipulate the phase diagram of multicomponent fluid mixtures. The Phase Chip exploits the permeation of water through poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) in order to controllably vary the concentration of solutes in aqueous nanoliter volume microdrops stored in wells. The permeation of water in the Phase Chip is modeled using the diffusion equation, and good agreement between experiment and theory is obtained. The Phase Chip operates by first creating drops of the water/solute mixture whose composition varies sequentially. Next, drops are transported down channels and guided into storage wells using surface tension forces. Finally, the solute concentration of each stored drop is simultaneously varied and measured. Two applications of the Phase Chip are presented. First, the phase diagram of a polymer/salt mixture is measured on-chip and validated off-chip, and second, protein crystallization rates are enhanced through the manipulation of the kinetics of nucleation and growth.

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This article has been cited by 18 ACS Journal articles (5 most recent appear below).

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