(606e) Microfluidic in-Channel Growth of 3-D Nanostructures and Their Applications

Microfluidic In-channel Growth
of 3-D Nanostructures and Their Applications

 Joseph Parisi,
Yu Lei

Department of Chemical, Materials,
& Biomolecular Engineering, University of
Connecticut, 191 Auditorium Road, Unit 3222, Storrs, Connecticut 06269

           
Microfluidic devices have been used in many different
applications and have continued to display their ability to shrink large scale
experiments into small scale devices.  Experiments ranging from cell
detectors to microreactors have successfully been
implement in microfluidic devices, however there are
many areas where the benefits of microfluidic devices
have yet to be fully researched.  Our work focuses on in-situ
preparation of 3-D nanostructured electrodes within a
microfluidic channel.  These
nanostructures are fabricated in a fraction of the time of traditional
lithography, CVD and hydrothermal techniques, require less material and limits
any complicated fabrication steps.  The true novelty of the device is in
its ability to be immediately ready for in-channel detection of chemical or
biological species without the need for alignment steps or mounting the
structures on a suitable surface.