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Credit: Rhoda Baer
Chemists say they have overcome one of the main obstacles in creating effective lab-on-a-chip devices, and the device they’ve invented has many potential applications, such as screening biological molecules.
To create their device, the team developed a technique that involves printing droplets of a special solvent onto a gold-coated or glass surface.
“We use a class of ‘green’ solvents called ionic liquids, which are salts that are liquid at room temperature,” said study author Chuan Zhao, PhD, of The University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.
“They are non-volatile, so this overcomes one of the main problems in making useful miniaturized devices—rapid evaporation of the solvents on the chip.”
Dr Zhao and his colleagues described this research in Nature Communications.
Lab-on-a-chip devices, where chemical reactions are carried out on a miniature scale, are under intensive development because they offer the promise of faster reaction times, reduced use of materials, and high yields of product.
However, the evaporation of solvents on the chip is a problem because it can affect the concentration of substances and disrupt the reactions.
Researchers have attempted to overcome the problem by containing the solvents within tiny channels, or “walls,” and having reservoirs to store extra solvent on the chip.
Dr Zhao and his colleagues said their “wall-less” design—using non-volatile ionic liquids as solvents to fabricate a microarray of droplets chemically anchored to the chip—has several advantages.
“Ionic liquids are designer solvents and have wide application,” Dr Zhao said. “We can now carry out many reactions or analytical procedures in ionic liquids at the micro-scale on a chip with enhanced yields and efficiency.”
“These microarray chips can be easily produced in high numbers and are very stable. They can survive being turned upside down and heated to 50 degrees, and some can even survive being immersed in another liquid. These properties will be important for commercial applications, including storage and transportation of microchips.”
The droplets of ionic liquid are about 50 µm across and 10 µm high. The researchers showed these tiny droplets can act as rapid, sensitive monitors of the presence of a gas, due to their small volume.
Metal salts dissolved in the droplets could be electrically deposited as microstructures, a technique that could be of use in the fabrication of integrated circuits.
And some biological molecules added to the droplets remained stable and active, opening up the possibility of using the microarrays for diagnostic purposes.
“The versatility of our chips means they could have a wide range of prospective functions,” Dr Zhao said, “such as for use in fast and accurate hand-held sensors for environmental monitoring, medical diagnosis, and process control in manufacturing.” 
Credit: Rhoda Baer
Chemists say they have overcome one of the main obstacles in creating effective lab-on-a-chip devices, and the device they’ve invented has many potential applications, such as screening biological molecules.
To create their device, the team developed a technique that involves printing droplets of a special solvent onto a gold-coated or glass surface.
“We use a class of ‘green’ solvents called ionic liquids, which are salts that are liquid at room temperature,” said study author Chuan Zhao, PhD, of The University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.
“They are non-volatile, so this overcomes one of the main problems in making useful miniaturized devices—rapid evaporation of the solvents on the chip.”
Dr Zhao and his colleagues described this research in Nature Communications.
Lab-on-a-chip devices, where chemical reactions are carried out on a miniature scale, are under intensive development because they offer the promise of faster reaction times, reduced use of materials, and high yields of product.
However, the evaporation of solvents on the chip is a problem because it can affect the concentration of substances and disrupt the reactions.
Researchers have attempted to overcome the problem by containing the solvents within tiny channels, or “walls,” and having reservoirs to store extra solvent on the chip.
Dr Zhao and his colleagues said their “wall-less” design—using non-volatile ionic liquids as solvents to fabricate a microarray of droplets chemically anchored to the chip—has several advantages.
“Ionic liquids are designer solvents and have wide application,” Dr Zhao said. “We can now carry out many reactions or analytical procedures in ionic liquids at the micro-scale on a chip with enhanced yields and efficiency.”
“These microarray chips can be easily produced in high numbers and are very stable. They can survive being turned upside down and heated to 50 degrees, and some can even survive being immersed in another liquid. These properties will be important for commercial applications, including storage and transportation of microchips.”
The droplets of ionic liquid are about 50 µm across and 10 µm high. The researchers showed these tiny droplets can act as rapid, sensitive monitors of the presence of a gas, due to their small volume.
Metal salts dissolved in the droplets could be electrically deposited as microstructures, a technique that could be of use in the fabrication of integrated circuits.
And some biological molecules added to the droplets remained stable and active, opening up the possibility of using the microarrays for diagnostic purposes.
“The versatility of our chips means they could have a wide range of prospective functions,” Dr Zhao said, “such as for use in fast and accurate hand-held sensors for environmental monitoring, medical diagnosis, and process control in manufacturing.”
Credit: Rhoda Baer
Chemists say they have overcome one of the main obstacles in creating effective lab-on-a-chip devices, and the device they’ve invented has many potential applications, such as screening biological molecules.
To create their device, the team developed a technique that involves printing droplets of a special solvent onto a gold-coated or glass surface.
“We use a class of ‘green’ solvents called ionic liquids, which are salts that are liquid at room temperature,” said study author Chuan Zhao, PhD, of The University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.
“They are non-volatile, so this overcomes one of the main problems in making useful miniaturized devices—rapid evaporation of the solvents on the chip.”
Dr Zhao and his colleagues described this research in Nature Communications.
Lab-on-a-chip devices, where chemical reactions are carried out on a miniature scale, are under intensive development because they offer the promise of faster reaction times, reduced use of materials, and high yields of product.
However, the evaporation of solvents on the chip is a problem because it can affect the concentration of substances and disrupt the reactions.
Researchers have attempted to overcome the problem by containing the solvents within tiny channels, or “walls,” and having reservoirs to store extra solvent on the chip.
Dr Zhao and his colleagues said their “wall-less” design—using non-volatile ionic liquids as solvents to fabricate a microarray of droplets chemically anchored to the chip—has several advantages.
“Ionic liquids are designer solvents and have wide application,” Dr Zhao said. “We can now carry out many reactions or analytical procedures in ionic liquids at the micro-scale on a chip with enhanced yields and efficiency.”
“These microarray chips can be easily produced in high numbers and are very stable. They can survive being turned upside down and heated to 50 degrees, and some can even survive being immersed in another liquid. These properties will be important for commercial applications, including storage and transportation of microchips.”
The droplets of ionic liquid are about 50 µm across and 10 µm high. The researchers showed these tiny droplets can act as rapid, sensitive monitors of the presence of a gas, due to their small volume.
Metal salts dissolved in the droplets could be electrically deposited as microstructures, a technique that could be of use in the fabrication of integrated circuits.
And some biological molecules added to the droplets remained stable and active, opening up the possibility of using the microarrays for diagnostic purposes.
“The versatility of our chips means they could have a wide range of prospective functions,” Dr Zhao said, “such as for use in fast and accurate hand-held sensors for environmental monitoring, medical diagnosis, and process control in manufacturing.”