Towards ferrofluidics for μ-TAS and lab on-a-chip applications

In this paper, we show that ferrofluids can be pumped very effectively in closed-channel geometries both in the macro- and micro-scales using spatially travelling, sinusoidally time-varying magnetic fields. The results from numerical modelling demonstrate that the optimum pumping frequency is the reciprocal of the Brownian relaxation time constant of the magnetic nanoparticles inside the ferrofluid. Since the Brownian time constant depends in part on the overall hydrodynamic volume of the magnetic nanoparticles, this work has been carried with a view to developing functionalized ferrofluids that can be used as sensitive pathogen detectors in the context of ferrohydrodynamic pumping via travelling magnetic fields. A micro-ferrofluidic device has been designed and fabricated in order to demonstrate the potential development of this technology for pathogen detection. A cost-effective fabrication process combining insulated metal substrate etching and soft lithography is used to realize the prototype micro-ferrofluidic device. Results show good agreement between simulation and experiment. We finally propose a ferrofluid-based pathogen detection scheme that is expected to be insensitive to temperature and viscosity differences between the ferrofluid and the sample to be tested.