Polymer Characterization on a Microfluidic Chip

Author: Thomas Q. Chastek

Mentors: Eric Amis, Katheryn Beers

Division: Polymers (854)

Building 224, Room B218, MS8542

Office: 301-975-4671

Fax: 301-975-4924

Sigma Xi Member: No

Category: Materials

Miniaturizing technology onto a microfluidic device offers many advantages such as integration of normally discrete synthetic and characterization strategies. This work has introduced dynamic light scattering onto a microfluidic chip via fiber optic probes. Limitations endemic to microfluidic chips, such as limited solvent resistance and lack of temperature uniformity were overcome by engineering the devices from metal. The miniaturized devices were used to make high throughput measurements and identify critical micelle temperatures, and performed as well as large traditional instruments. Further work on integrating this tool with other synthetic and characterization methods are also described.