The inaugural conference on Advances in Microfluidics and Nanofluidics was held at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology on 5-7 January 2009 and brought together leading researchers from across a wide variety of disciplines from North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. This Special Topic section forms the second of the two issues dedicated to original contributions covering both f...

We demonstrated a robust, inexpensive method for fabricating high-throughput gas gradient generation devices which combined classic mass-transfer limited techniques with the versatility of elastomer microfluidics. The method allowed for dozens of replicate mass-transfer gradient experiments per day, including fabrication and assembly of devices. We demonstrated how our devices can be interfaced...

We present a simple, flexible approach for pH regulation in micro-chambers by injecting controllable amounts of protons and hydroxide ions via field-enhanced dissociation of water molecules. Under a DC voltage bias, the polymeric bipolar membranes integrated in microfluidics devices generate and separate H(+) and OH(-) ions without gas production or contaminant generation resulting from electro...

We propose an alternative approach for fabricating microfluidic devices by using printed circuit board (PCB) as a substrate to produce high precision, highly integrated microfluidic systems. Driven by consumer electronics industry, the PCB manufacturing has reached a high level of maturity and precision, enabling the production of sophisticated electronic substrates at high-resolution and low c...

Since its inception, Compact Disc (CD)-based centrifugal microfluidic technology has drawn a great deal of interest within research communities due to its potential use in biomedical applications. The technology has been referred to by different names, including compact-disc microfluidics, lab-on-a-disk, lab-on-a-CD and bio-disk. This paper critically reviews the state-of-the-art in CD-based ce...

This review article describes recent developments in microfluidics, with special emphasis on disposable plastic devices. Included is an overview of the common methods used in the fabrication of polymer microfluidic systems, including replica and injection molding, embossing, and laser ablation. Also described are the different methods by which on-chip operations--such as the pumping and valving...

Polymer particles are key materials in various biomedical applications, including drug delivery, cellular immunity, cell capture, biochip, etc. Droplets produced by microfluidics have been widely applied as templates for the fabrication of polymer with controllable sizes and narrow size distributions. Compared to smooth particles, those surface microstructures (e.g., tentacles, bubbles, wrinkle...

The hydrodynamic drag force on a spherical particle in shear flow near-wall is investigated using optical tweezers and microfluidics.