| 摘要 |
A new method is proposed for the precise manipulation of picoliter-nanoliter volumes in microfluidic chips. The technique relies on the thermal expansion of fluids whereby fluid pressure and flow is easily manipulated through control of the fluid temperature. Heat can be efficiently applied in a sample manner using a light/infrared source (30) (e.g., a halogen lamp) which selectively heats the fluid (36) in the chip device through absorption of the optical energy in the visible-infrared (VIS/IR) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Several applications for fluid control and manipulation on microfluidic chips are proposed using the VIS/IR-induced fluid pumping mechanism, including valving. |
