We propose a method to separate enantiomers in microfluidic or nanofluidic channels. It requires flow profiles that break chiral symmetry and have regions with high local shear. Such profiles can be generated in channels confined by walls with different hydrodynamic boundary conditions (e.g., slip lengths). Because of a nonlinear hydrodynamic effect, particles with different chirality migrate at different speeds and can be separated. The mechanism is demonstrated by computer simulations. We investigate the influence of thermal fluctuations (i.e., the Péclet number) and show that the effect disappears in the linear response regime. The details of the microscopic flow are important and determine which volume forces are necessary to achieve separation.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.214504 | DOI Listing |
Heliyon
January 2025
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Background: The development of heat transfer devices used for heat conversion and recovery in several industrial and residential applications has long focused on improving heat transfer between two parallel plates. Numerous articles have examined the relevance of enhancing thermal performance for the system's performance and economics. Heat transport is improved by increasing the Reynolds number as the turbulent effects grow.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLab Chip
January 2025
NASCENT Engineering Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78758, USA.
Despite being a high-resolution separation technique, deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) technology is facing multiple challenges with regard to design, manufacture, and operation of pertinent devices. This work specifically aims at alleviating difficulties associated with design and manufacture of DLD chips. The process of design and production of computer-aided design (CAD) mask layout files that are typically required for computational modeling analysis, optimization, as well as for manufacturing DLD-based micro/nanofluidic chips is complex, time-consuming, and often necessitates a high level of expertise in the field.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Biol Macromol
January 2025
Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China; International Innovation Center for Forest Chemicals and Materials, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China. Electronic address:
Harnessing ionic gradients to generate electricity has inspired the development of nanofluidic membranes with charged nanochannels for osmotic energy conversion. However, achieving high-performance osmotic energy output remains elusive due to the trade-off between ion selectivity and nanochannel membrane permeability. In this study, we report a homogeneous nanofluidic membrane, composed of sulfonated nanoporous carbon (SPC) and TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofibers (T-CNF), engineered to overcome these limitations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrofluid Nanofluidics
July 2024
Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Arizona, 1200 E University Blvd, Tucson 85721, Arizona, USA.
The blood-brain barrier (BBB) protects the brain by actively allowing the entry of ions and nutrients while limiting the passage of from toxins and pathogens. A healthy BBB has low permeability and high selectivity to maintain normal brain functions. Increased BBB permeability can result from neurological diseases and traumatic injuries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Nano
January 2025
Department of Physics, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden.
UV-vis spectroscopy is a workhorse in analytical chemistry that finds application in life science, organic synthesis, and energy technologies like photocatalysis. In its traditional implementation with cuvettes, it requires sample volumes in the milliliter range. Here, we show how nanofluidic scattering spectroscopy (NSS), which measures visible light scattered from a single nanochannel in a spectrally resolved way, can reduce this sample volume to the attoliter range for solute concentrations in the mM regime, which corresponds to as few as 10 probed molecules.
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