Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	EP/D003091/1
Title:	Optically Controlled Digital Microfluidics: Chemistry in Aerosol and Surface-Microdroplet Arrays
Principal Investigator:	McGloin, Professor D
Other Investigators:	Buck, Professor M
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Physics and Astronomy
Organisation:	University of St Andrews
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 October 2005	Ends:	30 April 2007	Value (£):	165,290
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Gas & Solution Phase Reactions Lasers & Optics Microsystems
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Chemicals Food and Drink Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
Performing a chemical analysis of a small sample volume is challenging. Recently, new approaches for analysing samples have been developed. Known as lab-on-a-chip devices, these approaches are finding application in a wide range of scientific disciplines including the chemical, biochemical, environmental and biomedical sciences. Miniature flow channels are fabricated in an area comparable to the area of a microchip, permitting the mixing of extremely small volumes of liquid reagents and the analysis of small quantities of sample. Thorough mixing can be difficult to achieve in such small volumes and the chip has a fixed design and cannot be altered once fabricated. An alternative approach has been developed to control and mix liquid droplets a few millimetres in diameter using an array of electrodes, allowing easy alteration and control of the device.We propose here to use light to manipulate an array of liquid droplets. Liquid droplets can be trapped in a light beam, known as optical tweezing. In much the same way as regular tweezers can be used to trap and manipulate particles, a tightly focussed laser beam can be used to do much the same with small particles. Each droplet will be only a few microns in diameter, allowing extremely small volumes to be manipulated and mixed. Also, each droplet can be considered to be a miniature reaction vessel without walls. Using a holographic technique, multiple particles can be trapped and controlled simultaneously. This could permit the parallel control over a large number of small chemical reaction 'vessels', allowing precise control when mixing extremely small volumes of reactants. In addition to examining the control of liquid droplets in air, the control of chemistry in liquid droplets on a surface will be studied.
Key Findings
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Potential use in non-academic contexts
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Impacts
Description This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk Summary Date Materialised
Sectors submitted by the Researcher
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Project URL:
Further Information:
Organisation Website:	http://www.st-and.ac.uk