Microfluidics for Advanced Drug Delivery Systems.

Considerable efforts have been devoted towards developing effective drug delivery methods. Microfluidic systems, with their capability for precise handling and transport of small liquid quantities, have emerged as a promising platform for designing advanced drug delivery systems. Thus, microfluidic systems have been increasingly used for fabrication of drug carriers or direct drug delivery to a targeted tissue. In this review, the recent advances in these areas are critically reviewed and the shortcomings and opportunities are discussed. In addition, we highlight the efforts towards developing smart drug delivery platforms with integrated sensing and drug delivery components

Response of Electrified Micro-Jets to Electrohydrodynamic Perturbations

The breakup of liquid jets is ubiquitous with rich underpinning physics and widespread applications. The natural breakup of liquid jets originates from small ambient perturbations, which can grow exponentially until the amplitude as large as the jet radius is reached. For unelectrified inviscid jets, surface energy analysis shows that only the axisymmetric perturbation is possibly unstable, and this mode is referred as varicose instability. For electrified jets, the presence of surface charge enables additional unstable modes, among which the most common one is the whipping (or kink) instability that bends and stretches the charged jet that is responsible for the phenomena of electrospinning. A closer examination of the two instabilities suggests that due to mass conservation, the uneven jet stretching from whipping may translate into radial perturbations and trigger varicose instabilities. Although the varicose and whipping instabilities of electrified micro-jets have both been extensively studied separately, there is little attention paid to the combined effect of these two, which may lead to new jet breakup phenomena. This dissertation investigates the dynamic response of electrified jets under transverse electrohydrodynamic (EHD) perturbations which were introduced by exciters driven by alternating voltage of sweeping frequency. Three different jetting mechanisms are used to generate jets with various ranges of jet diameters: ~150 micrometer inertial jets from liquid pressurized through a small orifice, ~50 micrometer flow focused jets, and ~20 micrometer electrified Taylor-cone jets. The transverse perturbations enable systematic triggering of varicose and whipping instabilities, and consequently a wide range of remarkable phenomena emerge. For inertial jets with zero or low charge levels, only varicose instability is observable due to suppressed whipping instability. At modest charge levels, inertia jets can respond to the fundamental perturbation frequency as well as the second harmonic of the perturbation frequency. Highly charged jets such as fine jets generated from Taylor cones exhibit distinct behavior for different perturbation wavenumber x. Typical behavior include: whipping jets with superimposed varicose instability at small x, jet bifurcation from crossover of whipping and varicose instabilities at x~0.5, Coulombic fission owing to the surge of surface charge density as the slender liquid segments recover spherical shapes at x~0.7, and simple varicose mode near wave numbers of unity. The phenomena observed in this work may be explained by a linear model and rationalized by the phase diagram in the space of wave number and dimensionless charge levels. The experimental apparatus used in this dissertation is simple, non-intrusive, and scalable to a linear array of jets. The rich phenomena combined with the versatile apparatus may spawn new research directions such as regulated electrospinning, generating strictly monodisperse micro/nano droplets, and manufacturing of non-spherical particles from drying droplets that undergo controlled Coulombic fissions

Application of Nanotechnology in the Manufacturing Sector: A Review

This review of the manufacturing processes in the evolving field of nanotechnology describes the production of nanomaterials by the modification of conventional production techniques. A number of the manufacturing techniques for nanomaterials production and the challenges in the adaptation of the processes to enable nano production are highlighted. Examples of practical applications of nano-structures, materials and components are given. The challenges and risks their applications pose to the wider society are discussed. Suggestions are made on how the social and ethical implications of nanotechnology can best be addressed. A proposition on the way forward for nano production and the integration of their products in the society is also discussed. The challenges and prospects in nano-manufacturing are presented

Advances in Microfluidic Technologies for Energy and Environmental Applications

Microfluidics have aroused a new surge of interest in recent years in environmental and energy areas, and inspired novel applications to tackle the worldwide challenges for sustainable development. This book aims to present readers with a valuable compendium of significant advances in applying the multidisciplinary microfluidic technologies to address energy and environmental problems in a plethora of areas such as environmental monitoring and detection, new nanofluid application in traditional mechanical manufacturing processes, development of novel biosensors, and thermal management. This book will provide a new perspective to the understanding of the ever-growing importance of microfluidics

Advances in Microfluidic Technologies for Energy and Environmental Applications

Microfluidics have aroused a new surge of interest in recent years in environmental and energy areas, and inspired novel applications to tackle the worldwide challenges for sustainable development. This book aims to present readers with a valuable compendium of significant advances in applying the multidisciplinary microfluidic technologies to address energy and environmental problems in a plethora of areas such as environmental monitoring and detection, new nanofluid application in traditional mechanical manufacturing processes, development of novel biosensors, and thermal management. This book will provide a new perspective to the understanding of the ever-growing importance of microfluidics

Non-Newtonian Microfluidics

Microfluidics has seen a remarkable growth over recent decades, with its extensive applications in engineering, medicine, biology, chemistry, etc. Many of these real applications of microfluidics involve the handling of complex fluids, such as whole blood, protein solutions, and polymeric solutions, which exhibit non-Newtonian characteristics—specifically viscoelasticity. The elasticity of the non-Newtonian fluids induces intriguing phenomena, such as elastic instability and turbulence, even at extremely low Reynolds numbers. This is the consequence of the nonlinear nature of the rheological constitutive equations. The nonlinear characteristic of non-Newtonian fluids can dramatically change the flow dynamics, and is useful to enhance mixing at the microscale. Electrokinetics in the context of non-Newtonian fluids are also of significant importance, with their potential applications in micromixing enhancement and bio-particles manipulation and separation. In this Special Issue, we welcomed research papers, and review articles related to the applications, fundamentals, design, and the underlying mechanisms of non-Newtonian microfluidics, including discussions, analytical papers, and numerical and/or experimental analyses