The effect of electric field on droplet formation and motion in a viscous liquid

Printing Polymeric Convex Lenses to Boost the Sensitivity of a Graphene-Based UV Sensor

Ultraviolet (UV) is widely used in daily life as well as in industrial manufacturing. In this study, a single-step postprocess to improve the sensitivity of a graphene-based UV sensor is studied. We leverage the advantage of electric-field-assisted on-demand printing, which is simply applicable for mounting functional polymers onto various structures. Here, the facile printing process creates optical plano-convex geometry by accelerating and colliding a highly viscous droplet on a micropatterned graphene channel. The printed transparent lens refracts UV rays. The concentrated UV photon energy from a wide field of view enhances the photodesorption of electron-hole pairs between the lens and the graphene sensor channel, which is coupled with a large change in resistance. As a result, the one-step post-treatment has about a 4× higher sensitivity compared to bare sensors without the lenses. We verify the applicability of printing and the boosting mechanism by variation of lens dimensions, a series of UV exposure tests, and optical simulation. Moreover, the method contributes to UV sensing in acute angle or low irradiation. In addition, the catalytic lens provides about a 9× higher recovery rate, where water molecules inside the PEI lens deliver fast reassembly of the electron-hole pairs. The presented method with an ultimately simple fabrication step is expected to be applied to academic research and prototyping, including optoelectronic sensors, energy devices, and advanced manufacturing processes.

Organic acids enhanced decoloration of azo dye in gas phase surface discharge plasma system

A gas phase surface discharge plasma combined with organic acids system was developed to enhance active species mass transfer and dye-containing wastewater treatment efficacy, with Acid Orange II (AO7) as the model pollutant. The effects of discharge voltage and various organic acid additives (acetic acid, lactic acid and nonoic acid) on AO7 decoloration efficiency were evaluated. The experimental results showed that an AO7 decoloration efficiency of approximately 69.0% was obtained within 4 min of discharge plasma treatment without organic acid addition, which was improved to 82.8%, 83.5% and 88.6% within the same treatment time with the addition of acetic acid, lactic acid and nonoic acid, respectively. The enhancement effects on AO7 decoloration efficiency could be attributed to the decrease in aqueous surface tension, improvement in bubble distribution and shape, and increase in ozone equivalent concentration. The AO7 wastewater was biodegradable after discharge plasma treatment with the addition of organic acid. AO7 decomposition intermediates were analyzed by UV-vis spectrometry and GC-MS; 2-naphthol, 1,4-benzoquinone, phthalic anhydride, coumarin, 1,2-naphthoquinone, and 2-formyl-benzoic acid were detected. A possible pathway for AO7 decomposition in this system was proposed.

Nanoliter segmented-flow sampling mass spectrometry with online compartmentalization

We report a microfluidic device, using segmented flow in a two-phase system of immiscible liquids, which delivers aqueous droplets into a modified commercial mass spectrometer. The interface coupling the microfluidics to the mass spectrometer achieves up to 96% sample transfer efficiency to the vacuum chamber. Sample ionization is assisted by multipass infrared laser beam in the interface. The system achieves low femtomole detection limits of several analytes ranging from drugs to proteins. Sample ionization in this segmented-flow sampling was found to be remarkably insensitive to the presence of buffer salts and other matrices.

A 2D Electrohydrodynamic Model for Electrorotation of Fluid Drops

A theoretical analysis of spontaneous electrorotation of deformable fluid drops in a DC electric field is presented with a 2D electrohydrodynamic model. The fluids in the system are assumed to be leaky dielectric and Newtonian. If the rotating flow is dominant over the cellular convection type of electrohydrodynamic flow, closed-form solutions for drops of small deformations can be obtained. Because the governing equations are in general nonlinear even when drop deformations are ignored, the general solution for even undeformed drop takes a form of infinite series and can only be evaluated by numerical means. Both closed-form solutions for special cases and numerical solutions for more general cases are obtained here to describe steady-state field variables and first-order drop deformations. In a DC electric field of strength beyond the threshold value, spontaneous electrorotation of a drop is shown to occur when charge relaxation in the surrounding fluid is faster than the fluid inside the drop. With increasing the strength of the applied electric field from the threshold for onset of electrorotation, the axis of drop contraction deviates from from that of the applied electric field in the direction of the rotating flow with an angle increasing with the field strength.

Alginate hydrogel microspheres and microcapsules prepared by spinning disk atomization

Our spinning disk atomization (SDA) can, relative to other existing techniques, produce micron-sized particles with very narrow size distribution. The aim of this work is to present this technology for the production of alginate microspheres and microcapsules. We atomized and gelled aqueous alginate solutions into very narrowly dispersed microspheres with sizes ranging from 300 to 600 microm. Here, the interest is to produce, at high rate, particles of a given size with a narrow size distribution and also to show a new method of encapsulation using SDA. The viscosity and flow rate contributions in the drop formation is qualitatively analyzed to show how they affect droplet size. In addition, a technique for high degree of encapsulation is presented in which yeast is used as a model system. The production of yeast-loaded microspheres by SDA shows the potential of the technique for biotechnology applications.