Soft State Porous Junctions Based Microfluidic Membrane Reactor

Abstract

Rapid gas-liquid reactions are important for both fundamental sciences and large-scale energy and medical applications. Currently, the limitation of mass-transport through a stable gas-liquid interface hinders the enhancement of reaction efficiency, which cannot be well solved by existing technologies, such as segmented flow or annular flow methods. Here we describe a soft-state porous junction-based microfluidic membrane reactor that utilizes the porous barriers to actively impose gas transport through the reaction channel that is filled with the liquid reactant. Two channel systems next to the reaction channel are separately connected with gas phase reactant of different concentrations, and the concentration difference between the two gas channels lead a diffusion gradient across the reaction channel. Numerical calculation and experimental studies are carried out to characterize the phenomenon during the active gas-liquid reaction by varying both design parameters and reaction factors. The soft-state porous junction works as a selective barrier between the gas and liquid phases that could keep the gas-liquid interface stable and controllable along the reaction channels without allowing liquid trespassing into the gas channels. The rapid gas-liquid reaction could be achieved by tuning the gas concentration differences in the two gas channels due the enhanced air transport through the gas-liquid interface. The proposed microfluidic reactor provides a controllable and stable gas-liquid interface for hydrogen production, synthesis of nanocrystals, advanced biomaterials, diagnostic applications, continuous cell culture, drug screening, and organ functions on chip.