nanofluidics – Page 2 – TechConnect Briefs

A Higher-Order Approach to Fluid-Particle Coupling in Microscale Polymer Flows

Kallemov B., Miller G.H., Trebotich D., Lawrence Livermore Natioanal Laboratory, US

Flows containing long-chain polymers are viscoelastic on macroscopic length scales, but in microscale and nanoscale flows hybrid fluid-particle approaches are more suitable. Such an approach would enable more complex predictive modeling, including polymer-wall interactions like [...]

Viscosity measurements of PEO solutions by AFM with long nanowires

Hosseini M., Yazdanapanah M.M., Siddique S., Cohn R.W., University of Louisville, US

We recently demonstrated that long metal nanoneedles grown on atomic force microscope (AFM) probes can give very clear measurements of the surface tension, evaporation rate and viscosity of simple liquids. However, in the case of [...]

A Novel Parallel Flow Control (PFC) System for Syringe-Driven Nanofluidics

Liang H., Nam W.J., Fonash S.J., The Pennsylvania State University, US

In this work, we introduce the parallel flow control (PFC) configuration shown in Fig. 1 to address these key interfacing and flow control issues. PFC uses flow in a pressure-driven micro-channel, which interfaces with the [...]

Optimizing Multiscale Networks for Transient Transport in Nanoporous Materials

Nilson R.H., Griffiths S.K., Sandia National Laboratories, US

Hierarchical nanoporous materials afford the opportunity to combine the high surface area and functionality of nanopores with the superior charge/discharge characteristics of wider transport channels. In the present paper we optimize the apertures and spacing [...]

New Pair Force Evaluation Method for Parallel Molecular Dynamics in Arbitrary Geometries

Macpherson G.B., Reese J.M., University of Strathclyde, UK

We develop a new molecular dynamics algorithm for pair force evaluation of molecules occupying arbitrary polyhedral, unstructured mesh geometries. This is designed for hybrid MD/continuum simulation of nanofluidic systems. We show that the conventional MD [...]

Wall Functions for Incorporation of Atomistic Physics into Continuum Modeling of Electrokinetic Flow

Nilson R.H., Griffiths S.K., Sandia National Laboratories, US

The atomistic physics of fluid/solid interfacial layers may substantially influence liquid flow and ion transport, particularly in nanoscale channels. Previous studies addressing non-continuum fluid mechanics have been largely based on Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations that [...]

Capillary filling speed in silicon dioxide nano-channels

Jarlgaard S.E., Mikkelsen M.B.L., Skafte-Pedersen P., Bruus H., Kristensen A., Technical University of Denmark, DK

We present a simple silicon-based fabrication technique for nanocapillaries based on controlled growth of silicon-dioxide, UV lithography, etching with etch-stop, and glass wafer bonding. Our approach improves state-of-the-art with respect to the obtained cross-wafer homogeneity [...]

Biologically Functionalized Nanochannels on Ferroelectric Lead Zirconium Titanate Surfaces

Ocola L.E., Pan W.C., Kuo M., Tirumala V.R., Reiss B.D., Firestone M.A., Auciello O., Argonne National Laboratory, US

We recently started a program at Argonne to exploit patterned, polarizable ferroelectric surfaces, such as lead zirconium titanate (PZT), as a means to create field-responsive inorganic-biomolecule interfaces to study and manipulate biomatter on surfaces. In [...]

Fabrication of Nanochannels with Microfluidic Interface using PDMS Casting on Si/Ti Nanomold

Rust M.J., Subramaniam S., Ahn C.H., University of Cincinnati, US

In this abstract, the fabrication of nanochannels using poly (dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) casting on Si/Ti mold is proposed and results are presented. This work can possibly enable the mass-production of low cost nanochannels to study basic [...]

Multiscale Computation of Fluid and Ion Transport in Nanochannels: The Effect of Partial Charges

Joseph S., Chatterjee A.N., Aluru N.R., Beckman Institute of Advanced Science and Technology, US

We demonstrate a hierarchical multiscale methodology to solve ion transport in nanoscale channels and show that the partial charges from quantum calculations significantly alter transport properties and I-V plots for electrolytes in confined geometries. Effects [...]