Application of micromixers - Micromixers Fundamentals Design and Fabrication - page 336

FIGURE 9.8
Free-diffusion gradient generator for the investigation of angiogenesis: (a) device concept and (b) HUVEC
chemotaxis in the cell culture chamber [63] .
9.3 OUTLOOK
Micromixers continue to receive attention of the research community, because of the enormous
potential and impact in chemical analysis and chemical industry. Figure 9.9 shows the statistics on the
number of published research works on micromixers and their citations until June 2011. After the
initial surge of interest, the research output on micromixers has been stabilizing at 100-150 papers per
year. This solid number proves the importance of micromixers in the quest for miniaturization in
chemical and biochemical analysis and chemical industry.
The recent trend points to the development of micromixers without moving parts. Passive and
active micromixers with chaotic advection are preferred due to their effectiveness in microscale.
Mixing based on chaotic advection caused by flow-guiding structure could be the focus of future
research work on passive micromixers. With technologies such as hot embossing or molding, the
flow-guiding structures and the mixing channel can be fabricated in the same process. Mixing
based on electrokinetic disturbance could be the favorite one among the active mixing concepts
because of the simplicity in the fabrication. Only electrodes are needed for actuation. As
described in Section 7.5, mixing based on electrokinetic instability would require a relatively