A High Pressure Nanofluidic Micro-Pump Based on H2O Electrolysis

Abstract

Nanofluidic devices have many potential applications in biomedical field. One of the technical barriers of nanofluidics is to drive nanofluids in nanochannels with super-high hydraulic resistance (MPa scale) and super-small volume (fL scale). Electric field driving method (eg. electroosmotic flow) is commonly used in nanofluidics, since the conventional pumps applied in microfluidics are limited by their low pressure and low control precision. However, the electric field driving method is not suitable for all kinds of the nanofluids, which could affect the biochemical reactions, and lead to electrolytic reactions. We have developed a new type of high pressure nanofluidic micro-pump based on electrolysis. The pump system consists of electrolytic chamber, pressure sensor, control circuit, electrolytic electrodes and sample chamber that connects to nanofluidic chip. In our nanofluidic micro-pump system, high pressure gas generated from the electrolytic chamber pushes the liquid sample into the nanochannel, and the driving pressure to the fluidic sample can stably reach to 20MPa. Our high pressure micro-pump is suitable for both microfluidic and nanofluidic applications due to its very high output pressure, high control precision, fast response and wide output range.