• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.385-390
• /
• 2011

In this study, we developed a micromixer based on the non-equilibrium electrokinetics at the junction of a microchannel and nanochannel. Two fluid streams were mixed by an electro-osmotic flow and a vortex flow created as a result of the non-equilibrium electrokinetics at the junction of the microchannel and nanochannel. Initially, the microchannel was fabricated using Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) by the general soft lithography process and the nanochannel was created at a specific position on the microchannel by applying a high voltage. To evaluate the mixing performance of the micromixer, fluorescent distribution was analyzed by using the fluorescent dye, Rhodamine B. About 90% mixing was achieved with this novel micromixer, and this micromixer can be used in microsystems for biochemical sample analysis.