Zhu Hanliang, Zhang Yue, Wang Lan, Brodský Jan, Gablech Imrich, Feng Jianguo, Yan Qi-Long, Yang Shujie, Lee Luke P, Neuzil Pavel
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Systems for Aerospace, School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710072, China.
Department of Microelectronics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication, Brno University of Technology, 616 00, Brno, Czech Republic.
Nat Commun. 2025 Mar 27;16(1):2994. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-58025-9.
Calorimetry is crucial in biology, chemistry, physics, and pharmaceutical research, enabling the detection of heat changes at nanowatt and picowatt levels. However, traditional calorimetry systems are often limited by high costs and complex fabrication processes. Here, we reduce the cost and fabrication complexity of microcalorimeters by utilizing widely available flexible printed circuit manufacturing processes. This device achieves temperature and power resolutions of ≈ 6 μK and ≈ 654 pW in vacuum. Its feasibility is validated across a wide range of measurements, including salt crystallization, protein crystallization, and cellular metabolism. Our concept enhances the accessibility of microcalorimeters for high-resolution thermal analysis, which is challenging for conventional calorimeters.
量热法在生物学、化学、物理学和药物研究中至关重要，能够检测纳瓦和皮瓦级别的热变化。然而，传统量热系统往往受到高成本和复杂制造工艺的限制。在此，我们通过利用广泛可用的柔性印刷电路制造工艺，降低了微热量计的成本和制造复杂性。该器件在真空中实现了约6 μK和约654 pW的温度和功率分辨率。其可行性在包括盐结晶、蛋白质结晶和细胞代谢在内的广泛测量中得到了验证。我们的概念提高了微热量计用于高分辨率热分析的可及性，而这对传统量热计来说具有挑战性。
