What is microfluidics?
Microfluidics can be understood by breaking its name micro + fluidics.
Micro is related to very small size. E.g., 1 micrometre is a million times smaller (10-6) than 1 metre.
Fluid is related to liquid, gas or any material which may move or deform if you apply force. E.g., water, air, oil, blood, ketchup, honey, etc…
Now, microfluidics is the science field which studies micro-size fluid.
Why to study microfluidics?
Biggest advantage of microfluidics is the small fluid volume to carry out experiment. Which reduces costs, waste, and time and increases the speed and control of the experiment. Without our knowledge, the study of microfluidic technology has impacted our day-to-day lives. Some of the examples are listed below,
· Inkjet printing which utilised thousands of microdroplets to print our single paper.
· Medical diagnosis with a very small amount of blood.
· Delivery of medicine in our body.
· Environment monitoring through small amount of air.
How researchers study microfluidic?
Until now, there are widely used methods two study microfluidics.
Continuous flow microfluidics method where scientists develop
multiple microchannels and pass the fluids through them for experiment.
Digital microfluidics method, in which the researcher
studies a small amount of droplet and carry out the experiment.
Let me know if I have made any mistakes. Moreover, please provide more questions which you want to know?
Thanks.