Chuan-Hua Chen

A planar electroosmotic micropump

Electroosmotic (EO) micropumps use field-induced ion drag to drive liquids and achieve high pressures in a compact design with no moving parts. An analytical model applicable to planar, etched-structure micropumps has been developed. This model consists of pressure and flow relations in addition to an analytical expression that can be used to estimate the thermodynamic efficiency of planar EO pumps. The analytical model was applied to guide the design of a pump consisting of an etched EO flow chamber for near-optimal hydraulic power performance. To achieve high efficiency, the working fluid used was deionized (DI) water with a conductivity of 3.0 /spl times/ 10/sup -4/ S/m (pH = 5.7). The EO micropump was fabricated on a soda-lime glass substrate using standard microlithography and chemical wet etching techniques. The active pumping volume of the device consists of a wet-etched flow channel 1-mm long in the flow direction and 0.9 /spl mu/m by 38-mm in cross section. The pump performance agrees well with the theoretical model. The pump can produce a maximum pressure of 0.33 atm and a maximum flow rate of 15 /spl mu/L/min min at 1 kV.

Dropwise condensation on superhydrophobic surfaces with two-tier roughness

Dropwise condensation can enhance heat transfer by an order of magnitude compared to film condensation. Superhydrophobicity appears ideal to promote continued dropwise condensation which requires rapid removal of condensate drops; however, such promotion has not been reported on engineered surfaces. This letter reports continuous dropwise condensation on a superhydrophobic surface with short carbon nanotubes deposited on micromachined posts, a two-tier texture mimicking lotus leaves. On such micro-/nanostructured surfaces, the condensate drops prefer the Cassie state which is thermodynamically more stable than the Wenzel state. With a hexadecanethiol coating, superhydrophobicity is retained during and after condensation and rapid drop removal is enabled.

Self-cleaning of superhydrophobic surfaces by self-propelled jumping condensate

The self-cleaning function of superhydrophobic surfaces is conventionally attributed to the removal of contaminating particles by impacting or rolling water droplets, which implies the action of external forces such as gravity. Here, we demonstrate a unique self-cleaning mechanism whereby the contaminated superhydrophobic surface is exposed to condensing water vapor, and the contaminants are autonomously removed by the self-propelled jumping motion of the resulting liquid condensate, which partially covers or fully encloses the contaminating particles. The jumping motion off the superhydrophobic surface is powered by the surface energy released upon coalescence of the condensed water phase around the contaminants. The jumping-condensate mechanism is shown to spontaneously clean superhydrophobic cicada wings, where the contaminating particles cannot be removed by gravity, wing vibration, or wind flow. Our findings offer insights for the development of self-cleaning materials.

Instability of electrokinetic microchannel flows with conductivity gradients

Electrokinetic flow is leveraged in a variety of applications, and is a key enabler of on-chip electrophoresis systems. An important sub-class of electrokinetic devices aim to pump and control electrolyte working liquids with spatial gradients in conductivity. These high-gradient flows can become unstable under the application of a sufficiently strong electric field. In this work the instability physics is explored using theoretical and numerical analyses, as well as experimental observations. The flow in a long, rectangular-cross-section channel is considered. A conductivity gradient is assumed to be orthogonal to the main flow direction, and an electric field is applied in the streamwise direction. It is found that such a system exhibits a critical electric field above which the flow is highly unstable, resulting in fluctuating velocities and rapid stirring. Modeling results compare well with experimental observations. The model indicates that the fluid forces associated with the thin dimension of the c...

Convective and absolute electrokinetic instability with conductivity gradients

Electrokinetic flow instabilities occur under high electric fields in the presence of electrical conductivity gradients. Such instabilities are a key factor limiting the robust performance of complex electrokinetic bio-analytical systems, but can also be exploited for rapid mixing and flow control for microscale devices. This paper reports a representative flow instability phenomenon studied using a microfluidic T-junction with a cross-section of 11 µm by 155 µm. In this system, aqueous electrolytes of 10:1 conductivity ratio were electrokinetically driven into a common mixing channel by a steady electric field. Convectively unstable waves were observed with a nominal threshold field of 0. 5k V cm −1 , and upstream propagating waves were observed at 1. 5k V cm −1 . A physical model has been developed for this instability which captures the coupling between electric and flow fields. A linear stability analysis was performed on the governing equations in the thin-layer limit, and Briggs–Bers criteria were applied to select physically unstable modes and determine the nature of instability. The model predicts both qualitative trends and quantitative features that agree very well with experimental data, and shows that conductivity gradients and their associated bulk charge accumulation are crucial for such instabilities. Comparison between theory and experiments suggests the convective role of electro-osmotic flow. Scaling analysis and numerical results show that the instability is governed by two key controlling parameters: the ratio of dynamic to dissipative forces which governs the onset of instability, and the ratio of electroviscous to electro-osmotic velocities which governs the convective versus absolute nature of instability.

Planar jumping-drop thermal diodes

Phase-change thermal diodes rectify heat transport much more effectively than solid-state ones, but are limited by either the gravitational orientation or one-dimensional configuration. Here, we report a planar phase-change diode scalable to large areas with an orientation-independent diodicity of over 100, in which water/vapor is enclosed by parallel superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic plates. The thermal rectification is enabled by spontaneously jumping dropwise condensate which only occurs when the superhydrophobic surface is colder than the superhydrophilic surface.

Electroosmotic flow pumps with polymer frits

Electroosmotic flow (EOF) pumps with flow rates on the order of 1 ml/min have been designed and fabricated. These pumps use EOF to propel liquid solutions in a compact system with no moving parts. The pumping chamber is filled with densely packed non-porous silica particles, and the particle bed is held in place using two polymeric porous frits. The pump frame is made of acrylic, the frits are made using UV photopolymerization within the custom-built acrylic frame, and the particles are packed using a novel side-bore packing technology. Platinum wire electrodes on both sides of the pump provide the electric field to drive the flow. Deionized water is used as a working fluid in order to minimize Joule heating and increase thermodynamic efficiency. The maximum flow rates and maximum pressures generated by the pumps are 0.8 ml/min and 2 atm, respectively, at 1.0 kV applied voltage. # 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Wetting and Dewetting Transitions on Hierarchical Superhydrophobic Surfaces

Many natural superhydrophobic structures have hierarchical two-tier roughness which is empirically known to promote robust superhydrophobicity. We report the wetting and dewetting properties of two-tier roughness as a function of the wettability of the working fluid, where the surface tension of water/ethanol drops is tuned by the mixing ratio, and compare the results to one-tier roughness. When the ethanol concentration of deposited drops is gradually increased on one-tier control samples, the impalement of the microtier-only surface occurs at a lower ethanol concentration compared to the nanotier-only surface. The corresponding two-tier surface exhibits a two-stage wetting transition, first for the impalement of the microscale texture and then for the nanoscale one. The impaled drops are subsequently subjected to vibration-induced dewetting. Drops impaling one-tier surfaces could not be dewetted; neither could drops impaling both tiers of the two-tier roughness. However, on the two-tier surface, drops impaling only the microscale roughness exhibited a full dewetting transition upon vibration. Our work suggests that two-tier roughness is essential for preventing catastrophic, irreversible wetting of superhydrophobic surfaces.

Observations of the Askaryan Effect in Ice

We report on observations of coherent, impulsive radio Cherenkov radiation from electromagnetic showers in solid ice. This is the first observation of the Askaryan effect in ice. As part of the complete validation process for the ANITA experiment, we performed an experiment at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in June 2006 using a 7.5 metric ton ice target. We measure for the first time the large-scale angular dependence of the radiation pattern, a major factor in determining the solid-angle acceptance of ultrahigh-energy neutrino detectors.

The Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna ultra-high energy neutrino detector: Design, performance, and sensitivity for the 2006–2007 balloon flight

Abstract We present a comprehensive report on the experimental details of the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) long-duration balloon payload, including the design philosophy and realization, physics simulations, performance of the instrument during its first Antarctic flight completed in January of 2007, and expectations for the limiting neutrino detection sensitivity.