|
|
|
|
|
18/08/2008
 Email to a friend
 Comment on this article
|
By applying an electric field in the plane of a water based film – and applying a voltage from electrodes in the perpendicular direction – it is possible to make the film rotate at speed and perform a mixing action.
This is likely to be of use to designers of lab-on-a-chip analytical and fine chemical manufacturing devices.
Researchers at the Sharif University of Technology in Iran call their device a water film motor. They note: “The motor works perfectly with just pure water, but to increase the lifetime of the film, we dissolve some glycerine and detergent in the water. In this way, we make long stable films with microscale thicknesses that rotate for several minutes.”
The scale of the experiments are from 1cm square to 3 x 5cm. Voltages applied to the electrodes are from 120V to more than 500V and electric field gradients are up to 60kV/m.
The mechanism of what is going on is obscure – the inventors make various suggestions but suspect there are forces at work they are unaware of.
Potential applications are all in lab-on-a-chip scale analyses and synthesis. Mixing is obvious, but the inventors also talk about “separation of binary fluid mixtures on meso and nano scales”, and speak of continuing their investigations down to much smaller length scales – and of possibly working with “water films at molecular scales”.
Videos of the film motor in action can be seen on the group’s website (http://softmatter.cscm.ir/FilmMotor).
|
|
| |
Author
Tom Shelley
|
| |
| |
|
| |
This material is protected by Findlay Media copyright 2012.
See Terms and Conditions.
One-off usage is permitted but bulk copying is not.
For multiple copies contact the sales team.
|
| |
|
|
| |
To comment on news stories or blogs you need to complete our 60 second registration
process. Once completed this then allows you to download any and all white papers,
register for e-zines and access our detailed supplier directory for FREE.
If you are all ready a registered user then enter your e-mail address and login.
You will need to have logged in prior to entering your comments in the boxes provided.
|