Development is visible in every sector and the ability to shrinks laboratory-scale procedure to automated chip-sized system leading to revolution in bio-technology and medicine. The requirement of highly portable devices for blood pressure processing and sample detection of biological agent such as anthrax by U.S. military and homeland for security efforts. “Lab on technology” is one of the challenges required for miniaturizing the pumps for getting solutions through micro-channels.
The device EOP required bulky, external power for defeating the concept of portability because in it fluid appears to magically travelling through porous media in the presence of an electric field which are ideal. But with the recent development of super-thin membrane at the University of Rochester with the possibility to develop drastically shrinking power source, creating way for diagnostic devices similar to the size of credit card.
Associate professor, James McGrath of biomedical engineering has explained about the device electro-osmotic pumps requires very high-voltage for operation i.e. about 10 kilovolts and the range of device is one-quarter of a volte which means devices acne be further utilised for powering small batteries.
The researcher with their team used porous nano-crystalline silicon (pnc-Si) membranes that are microscopically thin and to equal the width of human air more than thousand stacked on top of each other. Thus, allowing for low-voltage system. The system works as the porous membrane require to be placed between two electrodes for the creation of electro-osmotic flow, occurred when an electric field interacts with ions on a charged surface causing fluid to move through channels.
EOPs displayed a significant low voltage drop with previous membrane between the electrodes fording engineers to restart with bulky high-voltage power sources. They developed a device which has opened doors to various tremendous numbers of applications. There were many medical applications in suggestion used for cooling electronic devices.
Components get more tightly when electronic devices get smaller, making it easier for the devices to overheat with miniature supplies. Other benefits to these silicon membranes sue to scalable fabrication process, the nano-crystalline silicon membranes which are expensive to making easily integration on silicon or silica-based micro fluid chips.
