2020 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Microfluidic flow in printed fracture channel
Project/Area Number |
19F19329
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Research Institution | Kyoto University |
Principal Investigator |
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Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
GIBBONS ANDREW 京都大学, 高等研究院, 外国人特別研究員
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Project Period (FY) |
2019-10-11 – 2022-03-31
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Keywords | OM films on aluminium / Large image on OM film / Maskless printing of OM |
Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In the project year 2020, I explored improving the microfluidic capabilities and improving the capability of making Organized Microfibrillation (OM) films overall. OM is a process that I helped to developed that makes thin films with porous internal structure. I was able to achieve printing of OM films on different substrates. Notably I was able to create higher quality films using different types of aluminium films as substrates. This allows for larger area films as well as flexible, bendable structures. I was also able to achieve new methods for illuminating polymer films, a step required for the OM process. I designed and assembled optics equipment to make an illumination apparatus that allowed maskless printing at a larger scale. Previously maskless printing was achieved using a MicroLED machine, this has high resolution (2 micron) but is limited to a very small area. The new equipment allows moderately high resolution (15 micron with lenses and other optical equipment) but allows provides much larger illumination area. I contributed and was a co-author on a paper published in the Journal of Membrane Science. I contributed to visualization and analysis of data, as well as assisting with sample imaging. I also presented by microfluidics work in progress to the Microfluidics Consortium of the CfBI.
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Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
4: Progress in research has been delayed.
Reason
The primary reason for delays in research was restrictions on lab access due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Work from home and “essential experiments only” policies slowed down experiment progress during the year.
For the research that could be accomplished, I was delayed by difficulties in identifying additives and chemicals that could allow water to flow into the OM channels. OM channels are made of hydrophobic polymers and this prevents water from entering the channels. I tried different types of surfactants and additives. I also had little progress in achieving OM films using hydrophilic polymers as a base material.
These were the main reasons for delay.
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Strategy for Future Research Activity |
There are a number of plans for expanding the capabilities of OM and overcoming some of the current challenges: To achieve water flow, I will begin a collaboration with researchers from the biological/microfluidics field. I expect that their familiarity with gel electrophoresis and biomolecular solutions will be valuable for advancing this project. I is my intention to demonstrate biomolecular flow within my OM microfluidic films. It is also my intention during this collaboration to explore alternative ways of pumping liquids through my microfluidic devices. To improve larger scale image quality, I will continue working with the projector optical systems. The goal is to use the projectors to give more control over the illumination process. I will explore the effect of different simultaneous light intensities from the projector. I will also use multiple projectors with different LED wavelengths to add further control to the color. This will require assembling a more precise apparatus for controlling the angle of each projector. It is my plan to use either beamsplitting or mirrors to facilitate multiple projectors in the same apparatus. It is my eventual plan to use laser holography to get finer control over how the illumination pattern form within the OM films.
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