Microcapillary Channel Research Articles

Dynamics of two unequal micron-sized viscous emulsion drops flowing in a two-dimensional constricted microcapillary channel: A numerical study

Emulsions containing unequal-sized droplets are ubiquitous. Compared to the equal-sized emulsion droplet coalescence process in porous media, unequal-sized emulsion droplets show distinctly different dynamics and features when flowing through the capillary channel. In this paper, we numerically studied the flow of two unequal small micron-size emulsion drops flowing in a two-dimensional (2D) half-sine pulse shape constricted tube. The finite element method solves the momentum, continuity, and level set equations. The oil–water interface is tracked using the level set method. Effects of drop size, capillary number (interfacial tension), viscosity ratio, and geometrical shape constriction effects on the droplets' flow behavior across the throat, its flow velocities, and average viscous pressure across the tube were investigated. It is found when there is a significant difference in diameters of the two un-equalized droplets, they will flow separately through the throat, whereas when the two un-equalized droplets’ size is close to each other, they coalescence with each other after passing through the constriction. Higher interfacial tension leads unequal-sized droplets to coalescence more readily while droplets pass without coalescence at low interfacial tension cases. The highest pressure drop is recorded at the critical point where the two unequal-sized droplets begin to merge in the constriction throat. Increasing droplet viscosity reduces the chances of coalescence and increases the average viscous pressure drop hence leading to mobility reduction. In the case of geometrical constrictions, circular-shaped contracted tubes offer the least resistance to fluid flow and are more appropriate for enhanced oil recovery processes. We hope our numerical findings will provide more information to facilitate the enhanced oil recovery process.

Biophysical indicators of the mucous membrane of the oral cavity, the microcirculatory channel and the oral fluid in patients with lichen ruber planus

Annotation. The work aims to conduct a biophysical assessment of the charge state of the buccal epithelium cells (BEC), the microcirculatory channel of the oral mucosa and oral fluid in patients with the erosive-ulcerative form of lichen planus. The problem is relevant due to the increasing number of lichen planus patients, the uncertain etiology of the disease, and the ongoing struggle to find treatment solutions. 11 patients aged 50-60 years with lichen planus (erosive-ulcerative form) were examined. All patients underwent a study of the charge state of the buccal epithelium cells. Buccal cell samples were collected on an empty stomach after rinsing the oral cavity with water, applying a gentle swabbing technique. A spectrocolorimeter of type “Pulsar” was used to assess the condition of the microcapillary channel of the oral mucosa. In addition, in patients with lichen planus, the stability of the pH of the oral fluid (ΔpH) was evaluated as one of the indicators of the level of non-specific resistance in the body and the oral cavity in particular. Five 1ml samples of oral fluid were taken from each patient to calculate the value of ΔpH, where pH value was determined using an ionometer immediately after sampling. An average value of ΔрН and the confidence interval of deviations (ΔрН) from the average value were calculated, taking into account the Student coefficient for five measurements and a confidence probability of 0.95. The results obtained from biophysical studies show a significant decrease in all studied indicators. The percentage of mobile nuclei in patients with the erosive-ulcerative form of lichen planus of the oral mucosa is two times lower than in healthy people of the same age. At the same time, the plasmalemma and nuclei displacement amplitudes, as well as their ratio, were reduced compared to the norm, which indicates a decrease in their charge and deterioration of the physiological state of cells and the body as a whole. We found that individuals with lichen planus exhibit a decreased efficiency of functional reactions in the oral cavity tissues, which requires the development and implementation of effective treatment and prevention measures.

Completely non-invasive cell manipulation in lens-integrated microfluidic devices by single-fiber optical tweezers.

In a fiber-based optical tweezer system, it is a common practice to insert the fiber probe into the sample solution to perform the tweezer function. Such a configuration of the fiber probe may lead to unwanted contamination and/or damage to the sample system and is thus potentially invasive. Here, we propose a completely non-invasive method for cell manipulation by combining a microcapillary microfluidic device and an optical fiber tweezer. We demonstrate that Chlorella cells inside the microcapillary channel can be successfully trapped and manipulated by an optical fiber probe located outside of the microcapillary, thus making the process completely non-invasive. The fiber does not even invade the sample solution. To our knowledge, this is the first report of such a method. The speed of stable manipulation can reach the 7 µm/s scale. We found that the curved walls of the microcapillaries worked like a lens, which helped to boost the light focusing and trapping efficiency. Numerical simulation of optical forces under medium settings reveals that the optical forces can be enhanced by up to 1.44 times, and the optical forces can change direction under certain conditions.

HologLev: A Hybrid Magnetic Levitation Platform Integrated with Lensless Holographic Microscopy for Density-Based Cell Analysis.

In clinical practice, a variety of diagnostic applications require the identification of target cells. Density has been used as a physical marker to distinguish cell populations since metabolic activities could alter the cell densities. Magnetic levitation offers great promise for separating cells at the single cell level within heterogeneous populations with respect to cell densities. Traditional magnetic levitation platforms need bulky and precise optical microscopes to visualize levitated cells. Moreover, the evaluation process of cell densities is cumbersome, which also requires trained personnel for operation. In this work, we introduce a device (HologLev) as a fusion of the magnetic levitation principle and lensless digital inline holographic microscopy (LDIHM). LDIHM provides ease of use by getting rid of bulky and expensive optics. By placing an imaging sensor just beneath the microcapillary channel without any lenses, recorded holograms are processed for determining cell densities through a fully automated digital image processing scheme. The device costs less than $100 and has a compact design that can fit into a pocket. We perform viability tests on the device by levitating three different cell lines (MDA-MB-231, U937, D1 ORL UVA) and comparing them against their dead correspondents. We also tested the differentiation of mouse osteoblastic (7F2) cells by monitoring characteristic variations in their density. Last, the response of MDA-MB-231 cancer cells to a chemotherapy drug was demonstrated in our platform. HologLev provides cost-effective, label-free, fully automated cell analysis in a compact design that could be highly desirable for laboratory and point-of-care testing applications.

Levitational Cell Cytometry for Forensics.

Here, a method for label-free, real-time interrogation, monitoring, detection, and sorting of biological rare cells in magnetically suspended heterogeneous samples is developed. To achieve this, heterogeneous populations of cells are levitated and confined in a microcapillary channel. This strategy enables spatiotemporal differential magnetic levitation of rare fragile dead cells equilibrating at different heights based on the balance between magnetic and corrected gravitational forces. In addition, the sorting of fragile rare dead cell populations is monitored in real-time. This technique provides a broadly applicable label-free tool for high resolution, real-time research, as well as forensic evidence processing of rape kits. This method is validated with forensic mock samples dating back to 2003, isolating sperm from epithelial cells (E. cells) with >90% efficiency and >97% purity. Overall, this method reduces the processing time by over 20-fold down to 20 min, eliminating centrifugation and labels, and providing an inexpensive and high-yield alternative to the current centrifuge-based differential extraction techniques. It can potentially facilitate the forensic downstream genomic analyses, accelerating the identification of suspects, and advancing public safety.

Wearable Organic Electrochemical Transistor Patch for Multiplexed Sensing of Calcium and Ammonium Ions from Human Perspiration.

Wearable health monitoring has garnered considerable interest from the healthcare industry as an evolutionary alternative to standard practices with the ability to provide rapid, off-site diagnosis and patient-monitoring. In particular, sweat-based wearable biosensors offer a noninvasive route to continuously monitor a variety of biomarkers for a range of physiological conditions. Both the accessibility and wealth of information of sweat make it an ideal target for noninvasive devices that can aid in early diagnosis of disease or to monitor athletic performance. Here, the integration of ammonium (NH4+ ) and calcium (Ca2+ ) ion-selective membranes with a poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate)-based (PEDOT:PSS) organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) for multiplexed sensing of NH4+ and Ca2+ in sweat with high sensitivity and selectivity is reported for the first time. The presented wearable sweat sensor is designed by combining a flexible and stretchable styrene-ethylene-butene-styrene substrate with a laser-patterned microcapillary channel array for direct sweat acquisition and delivery to the ion-selective OECT. The resulting dermal sensor exhibits a wide working range between 0.01 × 10-3 and 100 × 10-3 m, well within the physiological levels of NH4+ and Ca2+ in sweat. The integrated devices are successfully implemented with both ex situ measurements and on human subjects with real-time analysis using a wearable sensor assembly.

Molecularly selective nanoporous membrane-based wearable organic electrochemical device for noninvasive cortisol sensing.

Wearable biosensors have emerged as an alternative evolutionary development in the field of healthcare technology due to their potential to change conventional medical diagnostics and health monitoring. However, a number of critical technological challenges including selectivity, stability of (bio)recognition, efficient sample handling, invasiveness, and mechanical compliance to increase user comfort must still be overcome to successfully bring devices closer to commercial applications. We introduce the integration of an electrochemical transistor and a tailor-made synthetic and biomimetic polymeric membrane, which acts as a molecular memory layer facilitating the stable and selective molecular recognition of the human stress hormone cortisol. The sensor and a laser-patterned microcapillary channel array are integrated in a wearable sweat diagnostics platform, providing accurate sweat acquisition and precise sample delivery to the sensor interface. The integrated devices were successfully used with both ex situ methods using skin-like microfluidics and on human subjects with on-body real-sample analysis using a wearable sensor assembly.

Flow of emulsion drops through a constricted microcapillary channel

Enhanced oil recovery methods based on emulsion injection in porous media are based on the higher pressure drop in the emulsion flow when it is compared to the flow of the continuous phase at the same flow rate. This phenomenon depends on both viscous and capillary effects at the pore scale as the drops flow through the pore throats. In this work, we present a broad numerical study on the flow of planar emulsion drops through a constricted microcapillary channel that represents a pore throat connecting two adjacent pore bodies in a typical porous media. The emulsion concentration in the constriction region was controlled by a process of continuous injection of drops upstream the narrow channel. Both velocity and traction fields at the channel boundaries and drop surface are computed with the Boundary Element Method, and the position of the free surfaces in the flow is evolved by solving a kinematic equation in a Lagrangian representation. We investigate the effects of drop size, drop-to-basis fluid viscosity ratio and capillary number on the pressure loss by using a mobility reduction factor. The flow rate – pressure drop relation is studied by analyzing the mobility reduction factor as a function of the capillary number. It was found that a more efficient pore scale mobility control by emulsion injection can be achieved for high-viscosity drops that have the same size or are larger than the constriction at very low capillary number.

Luminescent Capillary‐Based Whispering Gallery Mode Sensors: Crossing the Lasing Threshold

Silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) present many advantages for sensor applications, including relatively bright and stable luminescence, low‐to‐negligible toxicity, and high physical and chemical robustness. In this work, the efforts in creating capillary‐based sensors from smooth films of oxide‐embedded SiNCs are summarized, and their responses to dye‐doped polymer films are compared. The main method is to form sub‐micrometer luminescent coatings on microcapillary channel walls. The coating must have a high index of refraction so that it can support the luminescence whispering gallery modes (WGMs) which propagate through the film and extend into the channel medium. Using Si NCs, a general refractometric sensing and the detection of layer‐by‐layer polyelectrolyte deposition on the capillary channel are demonstrated. The Si NC sensors are exceptionally robust and can be cleaned and re‐used multiple times. The main limitation of the method currently involves the relatively slow detection (requiring typically more than 20 s per collected luminescence spectrum) due to the low light levels associated with the Si NC luminescence. Finally, our most recent work is discussed, which aims to extend the luminescent capillary sensor into the lasing regime.

A capillary flow immunoassay microchip utilizing inkjet printing-based antibody immobilization onto island surfaces—toward sensitive and reproducible determination of carboxyterminal propeptide of type I procollagen

A capillary-flow-driven microchip system requires no external power and has no moving off-chip components, in contrast with most microfluidic-based immunoassay systems which are complicated to operate and require external components. To accelerate the sensitive and reproducible determination of analytes required for practical point-of-care applications, we formed island microchannel surfaces on a microcapillary channel to allow stable antibody immobilization. The island surface was surrounded by a circular groove 10 μm deep and 150 μm wide and allowed uniform inkjet printing of antibody spots, complete bio-reagent replacement, and sensitive detection of luminescence intensity. Quantitative analysis of carboxyterminal propeptide of type I procollagen (PICP) concentrations using this microchannel was demonstrated between 0–600 ng·ml−1, which is adequate for the clinical estimation of PICP concentrations in the blood. This microchip system holds promise as a model diagnostic platform that is readily adaptable to hands-free operation.

In situ observation and analysis of ultrasonic capillary effect in molten aluminium

An in situ synchrotron radiographic study of a molten Al–10wt% Cu alloy under the influence of an external ultrasonic field was carried out using the Diamond-Manchester Branchline pink X-ray imaging at the Diamond Light Source in UK. A bespoke test rig was used, consisting of an acoustic transducer with a titanium sonotrode coupled with a PID-controlled resistance furnace. An ultrasonic frequency of 30kHz, with a peak to peak amplitude at 140microns, was used, producing a pressure output of 16.9MPa at the radiation surface of the 1-mm diameter sonotrode.This allowed quantification of not only the cavitation bubble formation and collapse, but there was also evidence of the previously hypothesised ultrasonic capillary effect (UCE), providing the first direct observations of this phenomenon in a molten metallic alloy. This was achieved by quantifying the re-filling of a pre-existing groove in the shape of a tube (which acted as a micro-capillary channel) formed by the oxide envelope of the liquid sample. Analytical solutions of the flow suggest that the filling process, which took place in very small timescales, was related to micro-jetting from the collapsing cavitation bubbles. In addition, a secondary mechanism of liquid penetration through the groove, which is related with the density distribution of the oxides inside the groove, and practically to the filtration of aluminium melt from oxides, was revealed. The observation of the almost instantaneous re-filling of a micro-capillary channel with the metallic melt supports the hypothesised sono-capillary effect in technologically important liquids other than water, like metallic alloys with substantially higher surface tension and density.

Growth of Optical Crystals by the Micro-Pulling-Down Method

AbstractThe micro-pulling-down technique is a crystal growth method that has been mostly developed since 1992. The general scheme of the growth system is relatively simple: the melt (oxide, fluoride, metal) residing in a crucible is transported in downward through microcapillary channel(s) made in the bottom of the crucible. Two driving forces (capillary action and gravity) support the delivery of the melt to the liquid/solid growth interface formed under the crucible due to a properly established temperature gradient. Appropriate configuration of the crucible bottom allows for controlling of the crystal shape (fibers, rods, tubes, plates) and the dimensions of the crystals' cross sections that range approximately from 0.1 to 10 mm. A great number of scientifically and industrially important optical crystal fibers have been successfully produced using this method.

Design of a Side-View Particle Imaging Velocimetry Flow System for Cell-Substrate Adhesion Studies

Experimental models that mimic the flow conditions in microcapillaries have suggested that the local shear stresses and shear rates can mediate tumor cell and leukocyte arrest on the endothelium and subsequent sustained adhesion. However, further investigation has been limited by the lack of experimental models that allow quantitative measurement of the hydrodynamic environment over adherent cells. The purpose of this study was to develop a system capable of acquiring quantitative flow profiles over adherent cells. By combining the techniques of side-view imaging and particle image velocimetry (PIV), an in vitro model was constructed that is capable of obtaining quantitative flow data over cells adhering to the endothelium. The velocity over an adherent leukocyte was measured and the shear rate was calculated under low and high upstream wall shear. The microcapillary channel was modeled using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and the calculated velocity profiles over cells under the low and high shear rates were compared to experimental results. The drag force applied to each cell by the fluid was then computed. This system provides a means for future study of the forces underlying adhesion by permitting characterization of the local hydrodynamic conditions over adherent cells.

Dynamics of capillary flow of blood into a microfluidic channel

In this paper, a novel mathematical approach is devised to analyze the flow of blood from a droplet into a microcapillary channel. Special attention is devoted to estimate the effects of variable hydraulic resistance over different flow regimes, influence of suspended RBC particulates on the non-Newtonian flow characteristics and implications of a dynamically-evolving contact angle. Flow characteristics depicting advancement of the fluid within the microfluidic channel turn out to be typically non-linear, as per relative instantaneous strengths of the capillary forces and viscous resistances. It is found that the greater the 'pseudoplasticity' of the blood, the weaker the retarding shear forces. The driving forces, on the other hand, become stronger with time, on account of a reduction of contact angle with a decrease of blood flow velocity, although this strengthening is less prominent for blood samples with greater 'pseudoplasticity'. It is revealed that RBCs suspended in blood samples have a strong influence on the effective blood viscosity, and consequently, may drive the fluid significantly faster into the microchannel, especially when the characteristic length scales of the suspensions approach the hydraulic radius of the channel.

Flow and heat transfer characteristics of the evaporating extended meniscus in a micro-capillary channel

A mathematical model is developed to predict the transport phenomena during evaporation in the extended meniscus region of a micro-capillary channel. In this model, the vapor pressure variation and the disjoining pressure effect are included and the friction force at the liquid–vapor interface is considered as well. The results show that the local heat transfer coefficient has an extremely large value in the thin film region. The heat transfer rate, however, is larger for the meniscus than for the thin film region. The maximum liquid velocity appears at approximately 40% of the extended meniscus region and the variation of the heat flux has a negligible effect on the maximum liquid velocity. It is also found that the length of the extended meniscus region is affected by the heat flux, the channel height and the dispersion constant.