Microfluidics

Increasing miniaturization is already the subject of current research in chemical, biological and pharmaceutical process engineering. The reduction in the size of fluidic structures causes a shift in the dominant forces away from bulk forces and inertia to surface forces. As a result, completely new physical effects can be exploited.
Main research topics
- Experimental investigations of flow influence by means of surface acoustic waves
- Development of optical measurement techniques for simultaneous scalar field and temperature measurement
- Optimization of flow control in microfluidic fuel cells to increase fuel utilization and efficiency
Range of services
- Experimental and numerical investigations of existing microfluidic chips
- Design and optimization of flow control systems using surface acoustic waves
- Non-contact temperature and three-dimensional velocity measurement in microchannels
Laboratory equipment/test rigs
- Zeiss Axio Observer 7 microscope (contrast method: brightfield, polarization, fluorescence) with up to 20x magnification for three-dimensional characterization of microflows
- Motic microscope (contrast method: brightfield, phase contrast, fluorescence) with up to 40x magnification
- Extraction system for the investigation of electrochemical reactions
- 2-channel PowerSAW generator for excitation of high-frequency surface acoustic waves (up to 215 MHz) for SAW microfluidics
- Bipotentiostat (VSP-300, Fa. BioLogic) with impedance module for operation and investigation of electrochemical systems