Introduction to Microfluidics and

Applications
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Lecture-1

Introduction

Dr. Ravi Kumar Arun

Department of Chemical Engineering
[email protected]
Course Objective:
This course is to introduce the students about the emerging area of microfluidics and its applications. CHL018P5E

The course familiarizes the students with fundamentals of microfluidics and apply the principles in
o designing,
o modelling,
o fabrication and
o development of lab on a chip devices for different applications.
Suggested texts and reference materials
Text books
1. Nam-Trung Nguyen, Steven Wereley, Seyed Ali Mousavi Shaegh, Fundamentals and CHL018P5E

Applications of Microfluidics, third edition, 2019

2. Henrik Bruus, Theoretical Microfluidics, Volume 18 of Oxford master series in condensed
matter physics, 2007.
Reference materials
1. John Happel, Howard Brenner, Low Reynolds number hydrodynamics, Springer, 1983.
2. Suman Chakraborty, Microfluidics and Microfabrication, First Edition, Springer, 2010.
3. Patrik Tabeling: Introduction to Microfluidics, Oxford University Press, 2011
4. Xingyu Jiang, Nanotechnology and Microfluidics, Wiley-Vch,l 2020
Introduction: Definition, Origin, development and relationship with engineering and science

Fluid Mechanics theory in microscale: Introduction, Intermolecular Forces, The Three States of Matter,
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Continuum Assumption, Continuum Fluid Mechanics at Small Scales, Gas and Liquid Flows, Boundary
Conditions, Parallel Flows, Low Reynolds Number Flows, Entrance Effects

Capillary flow: Surface tension, Contact angle, Capillary length and capillary rise, Capillary pumps,
Marangoni effect, Surface-tension gradients

Fabrication Techniques for Microfluidics: Basic Micro techniques –Photolithography, Additive

Techniques, Subtractive Techniques, Pattern Transfer Techniques; Fabrication Techniques for Paper-Based
Microfluidics

Design, Assembly and Packaging of Microfluidic Devices with lab work: Wafer-Level Assembly and
Packaging, Device-Level Packaging

Microfluidics components: Micropumps, Microvalves, Microflow sensors, Micromixers, Droplet generators,

Microparticle separators, Microreactors
Lab-on-a-chip applications: Engineering, biomedical science and chemistry: Analytical bio/chemistry: Point-
of-care devices and lab-on-chips, Biomolecule separation and particle sorting, Physiology: Blood flow in the
microvasculature and related instrumentation
 Evaluation Strategy
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Distribution Weightage

Two Class Tests 30

Assignments 10

End Semester 40

Project 20

Total 100 with > 80% attendance

Motivation
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Two glands produce the silk of the spider web, each gland secreting a particular type of silk. The silk is in a
liquid state in the glands. During its journey towards the outlet, the solution hardens under the effect of large
deformations, dehydrates, turns into a soft material, exits the spider, evaporates, and solidifies.
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(A) Representation of a network of blood vessels. Gases and nutrients are exchanged between the
blood and surrounding tissue through the permeable walls of capillaries, the smallest blood
vessels(from Design cell, 2013). (B) Sketch of the gas transfers taking place in the lungs. (C) Migration
of a megakaryocyte in the bone tissue, penetration in the blood vessel, and the subsequent platelet
formation.
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Ant holding a nickel micro-gear, made by LIGA technology

(German for ‘lithographie, galvanofomung, abfomung’).
This ant was metallized and placed in a vacuum in order
to be photographed by electron microscopy. This image
was provided by the Karlsruhe group (Germany).
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A - SEM image of a part of a MEMS - accelerometer for

airbag B- principle of functioning of the accelerometer. IBM spelled out with 35 xenon
atoms, deposited on a cold (4K)
Nickel (110) surface

(A) Optical MEMS (MOEMS) made by Texas Instrument, used in digital projectors.
(B) An array of micro-mirrors used in a video-projector. The size of each mirror is 10 µm
The science and engineering of systems in which fluid behavior differs from conventional
flow theory primarily due to the small length scale of the system
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“There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom”

- Richard Feynman’s thought-provoking 1959 speech
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Sketch of the system used by R. G.

Sweet

First microfluidic system (1975) : a miniaturized

gas chromatographer, including an injector, a 1.5 m
long microchannel and a thermal detector
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Micro-channels Nano-tubes
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(A) Scanning electron micrographs of a PDMS honeycomb structure, created by

molding the polymer against a photoresist mould (Reprinted from Ref. [69] with
permission from Wiley and Sons, copyright 2022 Wiley and Sons). (B) Double-T
section of the network of channels. The roughness in the side walls of the PDMS
channels arises from the limited mask resolution.
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Two reagents A and B are

introduced in a T junction, in
a flux of oil, and form droplets.
By varying the flow rates, each
droplet can acquire different reagent
concentrations. This system allows high
throughput screening (kHz) of
biochemical reactions, using minimal
quantities (nl) of reagent
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Microfluidics is new ?
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o Arteria and veins in animals
o Capillaries in plants
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Multiplexed analysis of a model sample of urine

(glucose solution). The white is the paper, the grey
is the wax, defining channels. Two colorimetric
detections are performed in duplicate.
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(A) Microfluidic model of a lung.(B) Real lung

Micro-Reaction Technology (MRT)
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Multi-step microfluidic chemical synthesis

of carbamates starting from aqueous azide
and organic acid chloride using the Curtius
rearrangement reaction. The scheme
involves three reaction steps and two
separation steps.
Nanofluidics
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Microfluidic market and its evolution
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Microfluidics and its interactions with other fields
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 The objectives of micro-fluidic systems

• Micro-Total-Analysis-Systems (mTAS)
• One system to provide all of the
possible required analyses for a given
type problem
• All processing steps are performed on
the chip
• No user interaction required except for
initialization
• Portable bedside systems possible
• Lab-on-a-chip
• Micro-fluidics in nature
• Aveoli (Lung bubbles)
Micro-fluidics is Interdisciplinary
o Micro-Fabrication
o Chemistry
o Biology
o Mechanics
o Control Systems
o Micro-Scale Physics and Thermal/Fluidic Transport
o Numerical Modeling
o Simulation of micro-flows
o Material Science
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Spinning disk for digital polymerase chain reaction

(PCR). (Inset) Post-PCR fluorescent image of the disk.
Fluorescence correlates with the number of copies
per well.
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Spatial continuous-flow polymerase chain reaction (PCR) showing both PCR and high-resolution melting
analysis melting. (A) The image shows a microfluidic chip design that has two types of channel widths.
Denaturation of DNA occurs in narrow channels, whereas annealing and extension (which are relatively slower
than denaturation) occur in the wider channels owing to the reduced flow rate. (B) The temperature zones along
the chip are labeled.
The fluids in micro-fluidic system
Injection of a droplet into a micro-channel.
• Simple fluids
• liquids and gases
• Complex fluids
• immersed structures, surfactants,
polymers, DNA …

Cells in a micro-channel.
Polymer flow in a micro-channel
Typical fluidic components
• Micro-channels and channel- Channel-circuit
circuit
• Functional structures
• Micro-pump and switches
• Mixing and separating devices

Typical functional structre

Electroosmotic Pumping
Deviations from continuum hypothesis
for micro-fluidics
I: gas microflows
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DNA molecule imaged

with AFM.
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Microfluidic device enabling the production of cells optimized for the secretion of antibodies. Each cell is analyzed,
processed, selected, at individual level. The device mimics Darwin selection, but at a much faster rate.
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A schematic view of the mean free

path for air in normal conditions. In this
case, λ is approximately 60 nm. The
molecule travels this distance before hitting a
partner
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Definition of the three fundamental domains involved in small scale hydrodynamics,

in which several characteristic scales
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No Slip Condition

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