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An electrochemical cell is a device that generates electrical energy from chemical reactions. Electrical energy can also be applied to these cells to cause chemical reactions to occur. Electrochemical cells that generate an electric current are called voltaic or galvanic cells and those that generate chemical reactions, via electrolysis for example, are called electrolytic cells.
Microfluidics refers to a system that manipulates a small amount of fluids using small channels with sizes ten to hundreds micrometres. It is a multidisciplinary field that involves molecular analysis, molecular biology, and microelectronics. It has practical applications in the design of systems that process low volumes of fluids to achieve multiplexing, automation, and high-throughput screening. Microfluidics emerged in the beginning of the 1980s and is used in the development of inkjet printheads, DNA chips, lab-on-a-chip technology, micro-propulsion, and micro-thermal technologies.
In chemistry, electro-osmotic flow is the motion of liquid induced by an applied potential across a porous material, capillary tube, membrane, microchannel, or any other fluid conduit. Because electro-osmotic velocities are independent of conduit size, as long as the electrical double layer is much smaller than the characteristic length scale of the channel, electro-osmotic flow will have little effect. Electro-osmotic flow is most significant when in small channels, and is an essential component in chemical separation techniques, notably capillary electrophoresis. Electro-osmotic flow can occur in natural unfiltered water, as well as buffered solutions.
Electrowetting is the modification of the wetting properties of a surface with an applied electric field.
Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), also known as polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells, are a type of fuel cell being developed mainly for transport applications, as well as for stationary fuel-cell applications and portable fuel-cell applications. Their distinguishing features include lower temperature/pressure ranges and a special proton-conducting polymer electrolyte membrane. PEMFCs generate electricity and operate on the opposite principle to PEM electrolysis, which consumes electricity. They are a leading candidate to replace the aging alkaline fuel-cell technology, which was used in the Space Shuttle.
Electrohydrodynamics (EHD), also known as electro-fluid-dynamics (EFD) or electrokinetics, is the study of the dynamics of electrically charged fluids. It is the study of the motions of ionized particles or molecules and their interactions with electric fields and the surrounding fluid. The term may be considered to be synonymous with the rather elaborate electrostrictive hydrodynamics. ESHD covers the following types of particle and fluid transport mechanisms: electrophoresis, electrokinesis, dielectrophoresis, electro-osmosis, and electrorotation. In general, the phenomena relate to the direct conversion of electrical energy into kinetic energy, and vice versa.
A nanomotor is a molecular or nanoscale device capable of converting energy into movement. It can typically generate forces on the order of piconewtons.
A proton-exchange membrane, or polymer-electrolyte membrane (PEM), is a semipermeable membrane generally made from ionomers and designed to conduct protons while acting as an electronic insulator and reactant barrier, e.g. to oxygen and hydrogen gas. This is their essential function when incorporated into a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) of a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell or of a proton-exchange membrane electrolyser: separation of reactants and transport of protons while blocking a direct electronic pathway through the membrane.
A flow battery, or redox flow battery, is a type of electrochemical cell where chemical energy is provided by two chemical components dissolved in liquids that are pumped through the system on separate sides and in opposite direction of a membrane. Ion transfer inside the cell occurs through the membrane while both liquids circulate in their own respective space. Cell voltage is chemically determined by the Nernst equation and ranges, in practical applications, from 1.0 to 2.43 volts. The energy capacity is a function of the electrolyte volume and the power is a function of the surface area of the electrodes.
In fluid statics, capillary pressure is the pressure between two immiscible fluids in a thin tube, resulting from the interactions of forces between the fluids and solid walls of the tube. Capillary pressure can serve as both an opposing or driving force for fluid transport and is a significant property for research and industrial purposes. It is also observed in natural phenomena.
A streaming current and streaming potential are two interrelated electrokinetic phenomena studied in the areas of surface chemistry and electrochemistry. They are an electric current or potential which originates when an electrolyte is driven by a pressure gradient through a channel or porous plug with charged walls.
Micropumps are devices that can control and manipulate small fluid volumes. Although any kind of small pump is often referred to as a micropump, a more accurate definition restricts this term to pumps with functional dimensions in the micrometer range. Such pumps are of special interest in microfluidic research, and have become available for industrial product integration in recent years. Their miniaturized overall size, potential cost and improved dosing accuracy compared to existing miniature pumps fuel the growing interest for this innovative kind of pump.
A membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is an assembled stack of proton-exchange membranes (PEM) or alkali anion exchange membrane (AAEM), catalyst and flat plate electrode used in fuel cells and electrolyzers.
Bio-MEMS is an abbreviation for biomedical microelectromechanical systems. Bio-MEMS have considerable overlap, and is sometimes considered synonymous, with lab-on-a-chip (LOC) and micro total analysis systems (μTAS). Bio-MEMS is typically more focused on mechanical parts and microfabrication technologies made suitable for biological applications. On the other hand, lab-on-a-chip is concerned with miniaturization and integration of laboratory processes and experiments into single chips. In this definition, lab-on-a-chip devices do not strictly have biological applications, although most do or are amenable to be adapted for biological purposes. Similarly, micro total analysis systems may not have biological applications in mind, and are usually dedicated to chemical analysis. A broad definition for bio-MEMS can be used to refer to the science and technology of operating at the microscale for biological and biomedical applications, which may or may not include any electronic or mechanical functions. The interdisciplinary nature of bio-MEMS combines material sciences, clinical sciences, medicine, surgery, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, optical engineering, chemical engineering, and biomedical engineering. Some of its major applications include genomics, proteomics, molecular diagnostics, point-of-care diagnostics, tissue engineering, single cell analysis and implantable microdevices.
The Glossary of fuel cell terms lists the definitions of many terms used within the fuel cell industry. The terms in this fuel cell glossary may be used by fuel cell industry associations, in education material and fuel cell codes and standards to name but a few.
Membraneless Fuel Cells convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy without the use of a conducting membrane as with other types of Fuel Cells. In Laminar Flow Fuel Cells (LFFC) this is achieved by exploiting the phenomenon of non-mixing laminar flows where the interface between the two flows works as a proton/ion conductor. The interface allows for high diffusivity and eliminates the need for costly membranes. The operating principles of these cells mean that they can only be built to millimeter-scale sizes. The lack of a membrane means they are cheaper but the size limits their use to portable applications which require small amounts of power.
An organ-on-a-chip (OOC) is a multi-channel 3-D microfluidic cell culture, integrated circuit (chip) that simulates the activities, mechanics and physiological response of an entire organ or an organ system. It constitutes the subject matter of significant biomedical engineering research, more precisely in bio-MEMS. The convergence of labs-on-chips (LOCs) and cell biology has permitted the study of human physiology in an organ-specific context. By acting as a more sophisticated in vitro approximation of complex tissues than standard cell culture, they provide the potential as an alternative to animal models for drug development and toxin testing.
Micromotors are very small particles that can move themselves. The term is often used interchangeably with "nanomotor," despite the implicit size difference. These micromotors actually propel themselves in a specific direction autonomously when placed in a chemical solution. There are many different micromotor types operating under a host of mechanisms. Easily the most important examples are biological motors such as bacteria and any other self-propelled cells. Synthetically, researchers have exploited oxidation-reduction reactions to produce chemical gradients, local fluid flows, or streams of bubbles that then propel these micromotors through chemical media. Different stimuli, both external and internal can be used to control the behavior of these micromotors.
Many experimental realizations of self-propelled particles exhibit a strong tendency to aggregate and form clusters, whose dynamics are much richer than those of passive colloids. These aggregates of particles form for a variety of reasons, from chemical gradients to magnetic and ultrasonic fields. Self-propelled enzyme motors and synthetic nanomotors also exhibit clustering effects in the form of chemotaxis. Chemotaxis is a form of collective motion of biological or non-biological particles toward a fuel source or away from a threat, as observed experimentally in enzyme diffusion and also synthetic chemotaxis or phototaxis. In addition to irreversible schooling, self-propelled particles also display reversible collective motion, such as predator–prey behavior and oscillatory clustering and dispersion.
Collective motion is defined as the spontaneous emergence of ordered movement in a system consisting of many self-propelled agents. It can be observed in everyday life, for example in flocks of birds, schools of fish, herds of animals and also in crowds and car traffic. It also appears at the microscopic level: in colonies of bacteria, motility assays and artificial self-propelled particles. The scientific community is trying to understand the universality of this phenomenon. In particular it is intensively investigated in statistical physics and in the field of active matter. Experiments on animals, biological and synthesized self-propelled particles, simulations and theories are conducted in parallel to study these phenomena. One of the most famous models that describes such behavior is the Vicsek model introduced by Tamás Vicsek et al. in 1995.
References
- ↑ Kirby, B.J. (2010). Micro- and Nanoscale Fluid Mechanics: Transport in Microfluidic Devices. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-11903-0. Archived from the original on 2019-04-28. Retrieved 2011-01-08.
- ↑ Bruus, H. (2007). Theoretical Microfluidics.
- ↑ "microfluidics EO pump". Archived from the original on 2008-02-09. Retrieved 2008-01-18.
- ↑ Silica nanospheres
- ↑ Galvanostatic Measurements Archived June 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ "Parasitic load in fuel cells". Archived from the original on 2007-12-28. Retrieved 2008-01-23.
- ↑ "Cascade EO pump" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-06-29. Retrieved 2008-01-23.
- ↑ Porous glass electroosmotic pumps
- ↑ Sintred alumina electroosmotic pump
- ↑ Bengtsson, K.; Robinson, N. D. (2017). "A large-area, all-plastic, flexible electroosmotic pump". Microfluidics and Nanofluidics. 21 (12): 178. doi: 10.1007/s10404-017-2017-1 . S2CID 254195527.
- ↑ "Planar shallow electroosmotic pump" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-06-22. Retrieved 2008-01-23.
- ↑ Kline, Timothy R.; Paxton, Walter F.; Wang, Yang; Velegol, Darrell; Mallouk, Thomas E.; Sen, Ayusman (December 2005). "Catalytic Micropumps: Microscopic Convective Fluid Flow and Pattern Formation". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 127 (49): 17150–17151. doi:10.1021/ja056069u. ISSN 0002-7863. PMID 16332039.
- ↑ Altemose, Alicia; Sánchez-Farrán, María Antonieta; Duan, Wentao; Schulz, Steve; Borhan, Ali; Crespi, Vincent H.; Sen, Ayusman (2017-05-30). "Chemically Controlled Spatiotemporal Oscillations of Colloidal Assemblies". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 56 (27): 7817–7821. doi: 10.1002/anie.201703239 . ISSN 1433-7851. PMID 28493638.
- ↑ Zhang, Jianhua; Laskar, Abhrajit; Song, Jiaqi; Shklyaev, Oleg E.; Mou, Fangzhi; Guan, Jianguo; Balazs, Anna C.; Sen, Ayusman (2023-01-10). "Light-Powered, Fuel-Free Oscillation, Migration, and Reversible Manipulation of Multiple Cargo Types by Micromotor Swarms". ACS Nano. 17 (1): 251–262. doi:10.1021/acsnano.2c07266. ISSN 1936-0851.