Metachronal Actuation of Microscale Magnetic Artificial Cilia.

Biological cells often interact with the environment through carpets of microscopic hair-like cilia. These elastic structures are known to beat in a synchronized wavy fashion called metachronal motion to produce fluid transport. Metachronal motion emerges due to a phase difference between beating cycles of neighboring cilia and appears as traveling waves propagating along the ciliary carpet.

Microfluidic pumping using artificial magnetic cilia.

One of the vital functions of naturally occurring cilia is fluid transport. Biological cilia use spatially asymmetric strokes to generate a net fluid flow that can be utilized for feeding, swimming, and other functions. Biomimetic synthetic cilia with similar asymmetric beating can be useful for fluid manipulations in lab-on-chip devices.

Metachronal motion of artificial magnetic cilia.

Organisms use hair-like cilia that beat in a metachronal fashion to actively transport fluid and suspended particles. Metachronal motion emerges due to a phase difference between beating cycles of neighboring cilia and appears as traveling waves propagating along ciliary carpet. In this work, we demonstrate biomimetic artificial cilia capable of metachronal motion.

Asymmetric motion of magnetically actuated artificial cilia.

Most microorganisms use hair-like cilia with asymmetric beating to perform vital bio-physical processes. In this paper, we demonstrate a novel fabrication method for creating magnetic artificial cilia capable of such a biologically inspired asymmetric beating pattern essential for inducing microfluidic transport at low Reynolds number. The cilia are fabricated using a lithographic process in conjunction with deposition of magnetic nickel-iron permalloy to create flexible filaments that can be manipulated by varying an external magnetic field.

Direct synthesis of single-walled aminoaluminosilicate nanotubes with enhanced molecular adsorption selectivity.

Internal functionalization of single-walled nanotubes is an attractive, yet difficult challenge in nanotube materials chemistry. Here we report single-walled metal oxide nanotubes with covalently bonded primary amine moieties on their inner wall, synthesized through a one-step approach. Conclusive molecular-level structural information on the amine-functionalized nanotubes is obtained through multiple solid-state techniques.

Polymer translocation in solid-state nanopores: dependence of scaling behavior on pore dimensions and applied voltage.

We investigate unforced and forced translocation of a Rouse polymer (in the absence of hydrodynamic interactions) through a silicon nitride nanopore by three-dimensional Langevin dynamics simulations, as a function of pore dimensions and applied voltage. Our nanopore model consists of an atomistically detailed nanopore constructed using the crystal structure of β-Si(3)N(4). We also use realistic parameters in our simulation models rather than traditional dimensionless quantities.

Estimation of frequency-dependent electrokinetic forces on tin oxide nanobelts in low frequency electric fields.

A novel experimental approach is used for studying the response of ethanol-suspended SnO(2) nanobelts under the influence of low frequency ac electric fields. The electrically generated forces are estimated by analyzing the angular motion of the nanobelt, induced by repulsive forces originating predominantly from negative dielectrophoresis (DEP) on planar microelectrodes. The nanobelt motion is experimentally recorded in real time in the low frequency range (<100 kHz) and the angular velocities are calculated.

Ac dielectrophoresis of tin oxide nanobelts suspended in ethanol: manipulation and visualization.

This article presents results of detailed and direct real-time observations of the wide variety of SnO(2) nanobelt motions induced by ac dielectrophoresis (DEP) in an innovative microfluidic setup. High ac electric fields were generated on a gold microelectrode (approximately 20 microm electrode gap) array, patterned on a glass substrate and covered by a approximately 10 microm tall polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannel. Ethanol suspended SnO(2) nanobelts were introduced into the microchannel, and the DEP experiments were performed.

Stress-induced chemical detection using flexible metal-organic frameworks.

In this work we demonstrate the concept of stress-induced chemical detection using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) by integrating a thin film of the MOF HKUST-1 with a microcantilever surface. The results show that the energy of molecular adsorption, which causes slight distortions in the MOF crystal structure, can be converted to mechanical energy to create a highly responsive, reversible, and selective sensor. This sensor responds to water, methanol, and ethanol vapors, but yields no response to either N2 or O2.

Batch fabrication of atomic force microscopy probes with recessed integrated ring microelectrodes at a wafer level.

A batch fabrication process at the wafer-level integrating ring microelectrodes into atomic force microscopy (AFM) tips is presented. The fabrication process results in bifunctional scanning probes combining atomic force microscopy with scanning electrochemical microscopy (AFM-SECM) with a ring microelectrode integrated at a defined distance above the apex of the AFM tip. Silicon carbide is used as AFM tip material, resulting in reduced mechanical tip wear for extended usage.

Fabrication of comb interdigitated electrodes array (IDA) for a microbead-based electrochemical assay system.

This research is directed towards developing a more sensitive and rapid electrochemical sensor for enzyme labeled immunoassays by coupling redox cycling at interdigitated electrode arrays (IDA) with the enzyme label beta-galactosidase. Coplanar and comb IDA electrodes with a 2.4 microm gap were fabricated and their redox cycling currents were measured.

Bead-based electrochemical immunoassay for bacteriophage MS2.

Viruses are one of four classes of biothreat agents, and bacteriophage MS2 has been used as a simulant for biothreat viruses, such as smallpox. A paramagnetic bead-based electrochemical immunoassay has been developed for detecting bacteriophage MS2. The immunoassay sandwich was made by attaching a biotinylated rabbit anti-MS2 IgG to a streptavidin-coated bead, capturing the virus, and then attaching a rabbit anti-MS2 IgG-beta-galactosidase conjugate to another site on the virus.

Microbead-based electrochemical immunoassay with interdigitated array electrodes.

The objective of this study was to develop a sensitive and miniaturized immunoassay by coupling a microbead-based immunoassay with an interdigitated array (IDA) electrode. An IDA electrode amplifies the signal by recycling an electrochemically redox-reversible molecule. The microfabricated platinum electrodes had 25 pairs of electrodes with 1.

Organ pipe radiant modes of periodic micromachined silicon surfaces.

In recent studies on small pyroelectric thermal anemometers with roughened surfaces we showed that one of the most widely used heat transfer models yielded calculated anemometer responses for flow and geometric behaviour that agreed functionally with observations, but were significantly smaller than the experimental data. As the first stage in investigating the role of small structures in heat transfer, we initiated a study of emittance from deep gratings. Here we report measurements at 400 °C of infrared (3 µm⩽λ⩽14 µm), normal, s- and p-polarized spectral emittances of 45 µm deep, near square-wave gratings of heavily phosphorus doped (110) silicon (P content ∼5 × 10 cm).