Smart Microfluidic Devices with Photonic Control and Sensing

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "A:Physics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 July 2022) | Viewed by 6666

Special Issue Editor

Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, University of the Studies of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy
Interests: MEMS; MOEMS; optical sensors; interferometry; microphotonics; biophotonics; biosensors; lab on a chip
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

I am very pleased to introduce this Special Issue on “Smart microfluidic devices with photonic control and sensing.”

A wide plethora of solutions for flow control and sensing of chemical and physical parameters have been combined with microfluidic devices, thus allowing manipulation and monitoring of small volumes of fluids. Still, there are technical challenges for the conventional microfluidic approaches that could be overcome by realizing “smart microfluidic devices.” Photonics techniques to remotely induce and control flow in channels as well as to perform non-contact, non-invasive sensing on the filling fluids can provide significant contributions for a faster transition toward a smart microfluidic world.

I warmly invite emerging and pioneer investigators to contribute research papers, short communications, and review articles that focus on novel methodological, technological, and engineering developments in this area. This Special Issue is particularly focused on the specific application to microfluidic channels of photonic-based non-invasive sensors of temperature, pressure or other physical parameters as well as of non-contact sensors of pH, oxygen, or other analytes.

Contributions are also welcomed on the development of microdevices where flow is activated and modulated in real-time, by exploiting optical, non-contact strategies. Energy efficient solutions to directional liquid self-transportation have potential applications in designing smart microfluidic chips for biosensing. Other topics of interest are smart microfluidic devices able to monitor and analyze physiological signals in vivo within the body and regulate the drug payload accordingly, to design implantable drug delivery systems. Last but not least, since optical fibers are intrinsically compatible in size with microfluidic structures, they can be easily integrated into a microfluidic chip to realize a smart device, only barely modifying the original design.

I am looking forward to reading your exciting contributions.

Prof. Dr. Sabina Merlo
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Smart microfluidic device
  • Optical sensing
  • Photonic actuation
  • Remote optical control
  • Non-contact monitoring
  • Smart micro-channel

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 3247 KiB  
Article
Multispectral Imaging Flow Cytometry with Spatially and Spectrally Resolving Snapshot-Mosaic Cameras for the Characterization and Classification of Bioparticles
by Paul-Gerald Dittrich, Daniel Kraus, Enrico Ehrhardt, Thomas Henkel and Gunther Notni
Micromachines 2022, 13(2), 238; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13020238 - 31 Jan 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2358
Abstract
In the development and optimization of biotechnological cultivation processes the continuous monitoring through the acquisition and interpretation of spectral and morphological properties of bioparticles are challenging. There is therefore a need for the parallel acquisition and interpretation of spatially and spectrally resolved measurements [...] Read more.
In the development and optimization of biotechnological cultivation processes the continuous monitoring through the acquisition and interpretation of spectral and morphological properties of bioparticles are challenging. There is therefore a need for the parallel acquisition and interpretation of spatially and spectrally resolved measurements with which particles can be characterized and classified in-flow with high throughput. Therefore, in this paper we investigated the scientific and technological connectivity of standard imaging flow cytometry (IFC) with filter-on-chip based spatially and spectrally resolving snapshot-mosaic cameras for photonic sensing and control in a smart and innovative microfluidic device. For the investigations presented here we used the microalgae Haematococcus pluvialis (HP). These microalgae are used commercially to produce the antioxidant keto-carotenoid astaxanthin. Therefore, HP is relevant to practically demonstrate the usability of the developed system for Multispectral Imaging Flow Cytometry (MIFC) platform. The extension of standard IFC with snapshot-mosaic cameras and multivariate data processing is an innovative approach for the in-flow characterization and derived classification of bioparticles. Finally, the multispectral data acquisition and the therefore developed methodology is generalizable and enables further applications far beyond the here characterized population of HP cells. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Microfluidic Devices with Photonic Control and Sensing)
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13 pages, 4463 KiB  
Article
Rapid Inkjet-Printed Miniaturized Interdigitated Electrodes for Electrochemical Sensing of Nitrite and Taste Stimuli
by Sohan Dudala, Sangam Srikanth, Satish Kumar Dubey, Arshad Javed and Sanket Goel
Micromachines 2021, 12(9), 1037; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12091037 - 28 Aug 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3497
Abstract
This paper reports on single step and rapid fabrication of interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) using an inkjet printing-based approach. A commercial inkjet-printed circuit board (PCB) printer was used to fabricate the IDEs on a glass substrate. The inkjet printer was optimized for printing IDEs [...] Read more.
This paper reports on single step and rapid fabrication of interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) using an inkjet printing-based approach. A commercial inkjet-printed circuit board (PCB) printer was used to fabricate the IDEs on a glass substrate. The inkjet printer was optimized for printing IDEs on a glass substrate using a carbon ink with a specified viscosity. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in the frequency range of 1 Hz to 1 MHz was employed for chemical sensing applications using an electrochemical workstation. The IDE sensors demonstrated good nitrite quantification abilities, detecting a low concentration of 1 ppm. Taste simulating chemicals were used to experimentally analyze the ability of the developed sensor to detect and quantify tastes as perceived by humans. The performance of the inkjet-printed IDE sensor was compared with that of the IDEs fabricated using maskless direct laser writing (DLW)-based photolithography. The DLW–photolithography-based fabrication approach produces IDE sensors with excellent geometric tolerances and better sensing performance. However, inkjet printing provides IDE sensors at a fraction of the cost and time. The inkjet printing-based IDE sensor, fabricated in under 2 min and costing less than USD 0.3, can be adapted as a suitable IDE sensor with rapid and scalable fabrication process capabilities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Microfluidic Devices with Photonic Control and Sensing)
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