Jianhai Sun

Fabrication and characterization of microelectromechanical systems-based gas chromatography column with embedded micro-posts for separation of environmental carcinogens

In this paper, a micro gas chromatography (μGC) column with embedded micro-posts was developed for increasing overall surface area of the columns which is able to support more of the stationary phase and reducing the effective width of the column, leading to higher separation efficiency. The proposed columns have a higher sample capacity as the overall surface area is about 3 times larger than that of open columns with the same dimensions. In order to achieve an even flow velocity in the channels, the location of the micro-posts in the linear channels and the configuration of curved channels were optimized by numerical simulation. The results have indicated that the proposed column separated 5 environmental carcinogens in less than 50s, achieved a separation efficiency of about 9500plates/m and eluted highly symmetrical Gaussian peaks.

Use of surface plasmon resonance to investigate lateral wall deposition kinetics and properties of polydopamine films

Dopamine (DA) is a particularly important neurotransmitter. Polydopamine (pDA) films have been demonstrated to be important materials for the immobilization of biomolecules onto almost any type of solid substrate. In this study, a surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based sensor system with the sensor chip surface parallel to the direction of gravity was used to investigate the lateral wall deposition kinetics and properties of pDA films. The deposition kinetics of pDA Films are limited by the oxidation process. The pDA film could not be removed from the sensor chip completely by a strongly alkaline solution, indicating that the pDA film was heterogeneous in the direction of deposition. The pDA film formed near the interior of the solution was less stable than the film formed near the gold-solution interface. Adsorption of proteins on pDA film was studied compared with that on bare gold and dextran sensor chip. The reduction of Au(111) cations by the pDA film, forming a layer of gold particles, was monitored using SPR.

A micro gas chromatography column with a micro thermal conductivity detector for volatile organic compound analysis

In this paper, a micro gas chromatography (μGC) system contained a μGC column and a micro thermal conductivity detector (μTCD) was proposed. In order to reduce the volume of the system, some micro heaters were integrated on the surface and backside of the GC column, which could provide a robust temperature programming capability and rapidly increase the temperature of the μGC column. In addition, a silicon-glass μTCD with four-thermistor thermal conductivity cells that can offer significant advantages over previously reported designs including low dead volume, good thermal isolation, and elimination of the thermal noise was proposed in this paper. Experimental results have indicated that the μGC system with a detection limit of several ppm concentration levels separated and detected the benzene, toluene, and styrene in less than 3 min, and the μGC system also exhibited a good linear response in the test range.

Apparatus for measuring the Seebeck coefficients of highly resistive organic semiconducting materials

A Seebeck coefficient measurement apparatus for high resistance organic semiconductor materials has been designed and built. It can measure materials with resistance over 7 × 10(12) Ω. This is the highest material resistance value ever reported for Seebeck coefficient measurement. A cyclic temperature gradient generation technique and a corresponding algorithm are proposed to eliminate the negative effects of the long term drift of Seebeck voltage. Sources of errors in these measurements are discussed.

Micro-fabricated packed gas chromatography column based on laser etching technology.

In this work, a micro packed gas chromatograph column integrated with a micro heater was fabricated by using laser etching technology (LET) for analyzing environmental gases. LET is a powerful tool to etch deep well-shaped channels on the glass wafer, and it is the most effective way to increase depth of channels. The fabricated packed GC column with a length of over 1.6m, to our best knowledge, which is the longest so far. In addition, the fabricated column with a rectangular cross section of 1.2mm (depth) × 0.6mm (width) has a large aspect ratio of 2:1. The results show that the fabricated packed column had a large sample capacity, achieved a separation efficiency of about 5800 plates/m and eluted highly symmetrical Gaussian peaks.

Continuous Immunoassay for Sulfamethazine by Surface Plasmon Resonance-Based Biosensor

Regeneration of the sensor chip surface is difficult in many surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor assays. Improper regeneration will reduce life span of the sensor chip and decrease the quality of the data. Considering the advantages of reducing the regeneration frequency, a theoretically feasible continuous SPR biosensor immunoassay for sulfamethazine (SMT) was developed. In the continuous inhibitive immunoassay, the sensor chip surface is regenerated only once after a definite number of tests instead of every test. The SMT-bovine serum albumin (BSA) conjugate was covalently immobilized to a carboxymethyldextran modified gold film. The immobilization conditions of the antigen were studied and the working dilution of the antibody was optimized. The antibody was mixed with SMT of different concentrations prepared with PBS buffer to construct the calibration curve. The limit of detection was 0.5 ng mL−1. The continuous SPR biosensor assay was proved to be simpler and more practical than a normal one.

A Micromachined Gas Flow Sensor With Polydimethylsiloxane Flow Channels

In this paper, the design, fabrication, and response characteristics of the micromachined flow sensor were presented. The flow sensor comprising of two hot wires detects the flow rate by measuring the heat transfer of the two hot wires with mesh-membrane structure, which were supported by double-layer cantilevers and suspended in the flow channel. Polydimethylsiloxane instead of glass was used to fabricate the flow channels and seal the flow sensor at the room temperature, owing to its intrinsic structural economic, simplicity, and reliability. Moreover, the fabrication process of the flow sensor can avoid a high-temperature bonding process, resulting in higher sensitivity. The experimental results have indicated that the proposed flow sensor exhibited a linear response for flow rates up to 10 sccm, and the resolution of the flow sensor was less than 0.1 sccm. The four-cycle experiments suggested a reliability and repeatability of the proposed flow sensor.

Detection biomarkers of lung cancer using mini-GC-PID system integrated with micro GC column and micro pre-concentrator

The survival rate of lung cancer can be significantly improved by monitoring biomarkers in exhaled air that indicate diseases in early stage, so it is very important to develop micro analytical systems which can offer a fast, on-site, real-time detecting biomarkers in exhaled air. In this paper, a mini-gas chromatography (GC)-photo-ionization detector (PID) system integrated with a micro GC column and a micro pre-concentrator was developed for forming an inexpensive, fast, and non-invasive diagnostic tool for lung cancer. This system has very strong concentrate ability owing to its integrated micro pre-concentrator, which make the detection of trace components in exhaled air very easy. In addition, the integrated micro GC column can separate complex mixtures, which overcome low resolution and poor anti-interference ability of other instruments. The results indicated that the mini-GC-PID system can effectively separate and detect the biomarkers at parts-per-billion (ppb) level.

A facile and simple high-performance polydimethylsiloxane casting based on self-polymerization dopamine

We present a new and facile method for polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) casting by dip-coating the master molds in an aqueous solution of dopamine. A poly(dopamine) film formed by self-polymerization of dopamine is used as the surface anti-adhesion coating for PDMS de-molding. Different master molds, such as metal, silicon and PDMS replica, were used to verify the feasibility of this proposed PDMS casting method. The poly(dopamine) coatings at various fabrication conditions were studied by using surface plasmon resonance technology. We found that it is very easy to form repeated poly(dopamine) coatings with similar thicknesses and density at fairly flexible conditions of self-polymerization. The water contact angles of the PDMS master molds and the positive PDMS replicas were studied after the PDMS master molds were immersed in the dopamine coating solution for different times. The de-molding process was then measured by surface plasmon resonance technology. The surface morphology of the master molds and the PDMS replicas were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Results demonstrate that the poly(dopamine) coating exhibits a strong release property in the PDMS de-molding process and has good stickiness after PDMS de-molding a dozen times. The package performances of the PDMS replicas were detected and compared by bonding experiments. PDMS replicas after a second round of de-molding present a little higher package performance than that of the PDMS replicas with an anti-sticking agent of silane. The biochemical properties of PDMS replicas were studied through fluorescence immunoassay experiments. The PDMS replicas present similar biochemical properties to the bare PDMS. This biomimetic surface modification method of dopamine for PDMS casting has a great potential for preparing microdevices for various biological and clinical applications.

Highly Integrated MEMS-ASIC Sensing System for Intracorporeal Physiological Condition Monitoring

In this paper, a highly monolithic-integrated multi-modality sensor is proposed for intracorporeal monitoring. The single-chip sensor consists of a solid-state based temperature sensor, a capacitive based pressure sensor, and an electrochemical oxygen sensor with their respective interface application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). The solid-state-based temperature sensor and the interface ASICs were first designed and fabricated based on a 0.18-μm 1.8-V CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) process. The oxygen sensor and pressure sensor were fabricated by the standard CMOS process and subsequent CMOS-compatible MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) post-processing. The multi-sensor single chip was completely sealed by the nafion, parylene, and PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) layers for biocompatibility study. The size of the compact sensor chip is only 3.65 mm × 1.65 mm × 0.72 mm. The functionality, stability, and sensitivity of the multi-functional sensor was tested ex vivo. Cytotoxicity assessment was performed to verify that the bio-compatibility of the device is conforming to the ISO 10993-5:2009 standards. The measured sensitivities of the sensors for the temperature, pressure, and oxygen concentration are 10.2 mV/°C, 5.58 mV/kPa, and 20 mV·L/mg, respectively. The measurement results show that the proposed multi-sensor single chip is suitable to sense the temperature, pressure, and oxygen concentration of human tissues for intracorporeal physiological condition monitoring.