Capretto Lorenzo, Cheng Wei, Hill Martyn, Zhang Xunli
School of Engineering Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
Top Curr Chem. 2011;304:27-68. doi: 10.1007/128_2011_150.
Micromixing is a crucial process within microfluidic systems such as micro total analysis systems (μTAS). A state-of-art review on microstructured mixing devices and their mixing phenomena is given. The review first presents an overview of the characteristics of fluidic behavior at the microscale and their implications in microfluidic mixing processes. According to the two basic principles exploited to induce mixing at the microscale, micromixers are generally classified as being passive or active. Passive mixers solely rely on pumping energy, whereas active mixers rely on an external energy source to achieve mixing. Typical types of passive micromixers are discussed, including T- or Y-shaped, parallel lamination, sequential, focusing enhanced mixers, and droplet micromixers. Examples of active mixers using external forces such as pressure field, electrokinetic, dielectrophoretic, electrowetting, magneto-hydrodynamic, and ultrasound to assist mixing are presented. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of mixing in a microfluidic environment are discussed.
微混合是诸如微全分析系统（μTAS）等微流体系统中的一个关键过程。本文给出了关于微结构混合装置及其混合现象的最新综述。该综述首先概述了微尺度下流体行为的特征及其在微流体混合过程中的影响。根据在微尺度上用于诱导混合的两个基本原理，微混合器通常分为被动式和主动式。被动式混合器仅依靠泵送能量，而主动式混合器则依靠外部能量源来实现混合。文中讨论了典型的被动式微混合器类型，包括T形或Y形、平行层流、顺序式、聚焦增强型混合器以及液滴微混合器。还介绍了利用压力场、电动、介电泳、电润湿、磁流体动力学和超声等外力辅助混合的主动式混合器的实例。最后，讨论了在微流体环境中混合的优缺点。
