Modeling the transport and capture of analytes in a two-phase heterogeneous microfluidic immunosensor

Abstract

In a typical heterogeneous microfluidic immunosensor, the carrier fluid transports the target analytes to the antibodies immobilized on the channel surfaces with a thin liquid layer where they are captured. While single-phase systems (the carrier fluid being a liquid) are well studied, two-phase systems (the carrier fluid being a gas) are less explored. There in particular, the effect of transport parameters on the capture efficiency (a critical performance parameter) has not received much attention, and thus is the subject of study here. Hence, we have investigated the transport and capture of analytes in a two-phase heterogeneous microfluidic immunosensor wherein the target analytes in the gaseous phase are transported to the immobilized antibodies via gas–liquid interfacial mass transfer which strongly depends on flow variables of the gas phase flow. Parametric studies on capture efficiency using the properties of trinitrotoluene (TNT) were used to obtain the effects of important transport parameters on the capture of analyte molecules. The highlight of this work is the development of an empirical correlation between the capture efficiency and the gas-side non-dimensional interfacial mass transfer coefficient (Sherwood number, Shg). This could help design of a two-phase microfluidic device with improved performance parameters to capture gaseous analytes.