Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Lab Chip. 2011 Jun 21;11(12):2002-10. doi: 10.1039/c0lc00411a. Epub 2011 Feb 18.
In this paper we quantitatively analyse the performance of magnetically-driven artificial cilia for lab-on-a-chip applications. The artificial cilia are fabricated using thin polymer films with embedded magnetic nano-particles and their deformation is studied under different external magnetic fields and flows. A coupled magneto-mechanical solid-fluid model that accurately captures the interaction between the magnetic field, cilia and fluid is used to simulate the cilia motion. The elastic and magnetic properties of the cilia are obtained by fitting the results of the computational model to the experimental data. The performance of the artificial cilia with a non-uniform cross-section is characterised using the numerical model for two channel configurations that are of practical importance: an open-loop and a closed-loop channel. We predict that the flow and pressure head generated by the artificial cilia can be as high as 18 microlitres per minute and 3 mm of water, respectively. We also study the effect of metachronal waves on the flow generated and show that the fluid propelled increases drastically compared to synchronously beating cilia, and is unidirectional. This increase is significant even when the phase difference between adjacent cilia is small. The obtained results provide guidelines for the optimal design of magnetically-driven artificial cilia for microfluidic propulsion.
在本文中，我们定量分析了用于微流控应用的磁驱动人工纤毛的性能。人工纤毛使用嵌入磁性纳米颗粒的薄聚合物薄膜制造，并在外磁场和流场的不同作用下研究其变形。使用精确捕捉磁场、纤毛和流体之间相互作用的耦合磁-机械固体-流体模型来模拟纤毛运动。通过将计算模型的结果拟合到实验数据来获得纤毛的弹性和磁性特性。使用数值模型对两种具有实际重要性的通道配置（开环和闭环通道）的非均匀截面人工纤毛的性能进行了表征：我们预测，人工纤毛产生的流量和压力头可分别高达 18 微升/分钟和 3 毫米水柱。我们还研究了拟波对产生的流动的影响，结果表明，与同步拍打纤毛相比，推进的流体急剧增加，且是单向的。即使相邻纤毛之间的相位差较小，这种增加也是显著的。所得到的结果为用于微流控推进的磁驱动人工纤毛的最佳设计提供了指导。
