Soft Robotics
·
2024
·
IF 6.4
Yang Qu,Yiming Zhang,Boyuan Huang,Cheng Chen,Huacen Wang,Sicong Liu,Hongqiang Wang
Currently, pneumatic soft actuators are widely used due to their impressive adaptability, but they still face challenges for more extensive practical applications. One of the primary issues is the bulky and noisy air compressors required to generate air pressure. To circumvent this critical problem, this work proposes a new type of air pressure source, based on the vapor pressure at the gas–liquid equilibrium to replace conventional air pumps. Compared with the previous phase transition method, this approach gains advantages such as generating gas even at low temperatures (instead of boiling point), more controllable gas output, and higher force density (since both ammonia and water contribute to the gas pressure). This work built mathematical models to explain the mechanism of converting energy to output action force from electrical energy and found the aqua ammonia system is one of the optimal choices. Multiple prototypes were created to demonstrate the capability of this method, including a pouch actuator that pushed a load 20,555 times heavier than its dead weight. Finally, based on the soft actuator, an untethered crawling robot was implemented with onboard batteries, showing the potentially extensive applications of this methodology.
研究领域:
机械工程
·
材料科学
·
机器人学
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产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
ANALYST
·
2021
·Vol. 146
·期 22
·6960-6969
·
IF 4.616
Ping Mao,Lei Cao,Zedong Li,Minli You,Bin Gao,Xianghong Xie,Zhenrui Xue,Ping Peng,Chunyan Yao,Feng Xu
Digital PCR has shown great potential for quantitative nucleic acid testing (NAT), but most existing platforms are dependent on large auxiliary equipment (e.g., vacuum pump, amplification instrument, fluorescence microscope) to achieve target dispersion, amplification, signal capture and result analysis. Such complex, expensive and bulky NAT platforms have limited their applications in resource-limited areas, especially for point-of-care testing (POCT). In this work, we designed a digital isothermal NAT platform based on a pump-free open droplet array microfluidic chip. A pump-free microfluidic chip was developed based on an open microdroplet array in the form of thousands of independent microdroplets for spontaneous sample dispersion, without the need for external power. Combined with a handheld fluorescent signal reader based on a smartphone, this digital NAT platform can accurately quantify as low as 1 copy per μL of λDNA. Therefore, our integrated NAT platform, as a potable, robust and low-cost tool for highly accurate NA quantitative analysis, holds great potential for POCT applications.
研究领域:
分子生物学
·
生物医学工程
·
医学诊断
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DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
TALANTA
·
2017
·
IF 4.162
Qian Liu,Chaoping Xu,Heng Liang
We developed novel laser carved micro-crack (LCC) paper-based channels to significantly accelerate the liquid flow without an external pump. For the aqueous solutions they increased the flow velocity 59 times in 16% laser power-8 micro-cracks-LCC channel compared with it in solely-printed channels. All experimental data from both LCC and solely-printed channels were well-fitted by the time-distance quadratic trinomial that we developed on laser power and micro-crack number. We designed and fabricated T-junction microstructures of LCCs. Further, the microfluidic paper-based analytical device (μPAD) of LCC on dye mixing gradient and pH gradient were developed with the characteristics, fast self-acting transportation and high-performance mixing of liquid flows. In the dye mixing gradient the time cost was reduced from 2355 s in the solely-printed one to only 123 s in the five-stage of this LCC-μPAD. It was useful for quick and long-distance transferences through the multiple units of μPADs. Certainly, this LCC-μPAD was inexpensive, disposable, portable and applicable to resource-limited environments.
研究领域:
生物医学工程
·
微流控技术
·
分析化学
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产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
·
2025
·
IF 19
Haoran Li,Jiahui Ma,Hao Chen,Wenpeng Hong,Jingrui Lan,Yuan Chang,Huixin Zhang,Lei Zhang,Xiaojuan Niu,Yan Li,Jingchong Liu,Cunhai Wang
Interfacial photothermal evaporation offers a promising and low-carbon footprint solution for combating worldwide water scarcity. However, its global implementation is constrained by the electricity requirement for water feeding and low freshwater yield due to the spatial decoupling nexus between heat and mass transfer. This paper reports a pumpless and efficient in-situ solar water production engineering strategy, which is termed interfacial photothermal membrane distillation (IPMD). It produces vapor by the in-situ evaporation of the spontaneously wicked water from a superhydrophilic photothermal material. Subsequently, the vapor sandwiched between the photothermal material and a permeable membrane is condensed through membrane distillation. A water productivity of 1.09 kg m −2 h −1 together with a solar-to-water efficiency of up to 70.3% are achieved at 1 sun illumination. Further evidence demonstrates that the driving factors in favor of the IPMD configuration are the interplay between the heat and water in the evaporation interface and the vapor gap. The IPMD device achieves a water yield of 3.62 kg m −2 over 10 h outdoor operation and a salt rejection rate of 98.34%. This work paves a promising way for sustainable freshwater harvesting in remote or off-grid areas.
研究领域:
环境工程
·
可再生能源
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海水淡化
·
太阳能利用
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
Biotechnology Journal
·
2024
·Vol. 19
·期 2
·2300390
·
IF 3.2
Yaqiong Guo,Yingying Xie,Jianhua Qin
Organ-on-a-chip technology has shown great potential in disease modeling and drug evaluation. However, traditional organ-on-a-chip devices are mostly pump-dependent with low throughput, which makes it difficult to leverage their advantages. In this study, we have developed a generic, pump-free organ-on-a-chip platform consisting of a 32-unit chip and an adjustable rocker, facilitating high-throughput dynamic cell culture with straightforward operation. By utilizing the rocker to induce periodic fluid forces, we can achieve fluidic conditions similar to those obtained with traditional pump-based systems. Through constructing a gut-on-a-chip model, we observed remarkable enhancements in the expression of barrier-associated proteins and the spatial distribution of differentiated intestinal cells compared to static culture. Furthermore, RNA sequencing analysis unveiled enriched pathways associated with cell proliferation, lipid transport, and drug metabolism, indicating the ability of the platform to mimic critical physiological processes. Additionally, we tested seven drugs that represent a range of high, medium, and low in vivo permeability using this model and found a strong correlation between their P app values and human Fa, demonstrating the capability of this model for drug absorption evaluation. Our findings highlight the potential of this pump-free organ-on-a-chip platform as a valuable tool for advancing drug development and enabling personalized medicine.
研究领域:
生物医学工程
·
药理学
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组织工程
·
细胞生物学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
BIOSENSORS & BIOELECTRONICS
·
2024
·
IF 10.7
Xinyue Guo,Qiangqiang Zhang,Chentian Zhang,Mingyue Mi,Xinxin Li,Xueping Zhang,Seeram Ramakrishna,Dongxiao Ji,Xiaohong Qin
Textile sweat sensors possess immense potential for non-invasive health monitoring. Rapid in-situ sweat capture and prevention of its evaporation are crucial for accurate and stable real-time monitoring. Herein, we introduce a unidirectional, pump-free microfluidic sweat management system to tackle this challenge. A nanofiber sheath layer on micrometer-scale sensing filaments enables this pumpless microfluidic design. Utilizing the capillary effect of the nanofibers allows for the swift capture of sweat, while the differential configuration of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties of the sheath and core yarns prevents sweat evaporation. The Laplace pressure difference between the cross-scale fibers facilitates the management system to ultimately expulse sweat. This results in microfluidic control of sweat without the need for external forces, resulting in rapid (<5 s), sensitive (19.8 nA μM −1 ), and stable (with signal noise and drift suppression) sweat detection. This yarn sensor can be easily integrated into various fabrics, enabling the creation of health monitoring smart garments. The garments maintain good monitoring performance even after 20 washes. This work provides a solution for designing smart yarns for high-precision, stable, and non-invasive health monitoring.
研究领域:
微流控
·
传感器
·
纺织工程
·
健康监测
·
可穿戴技术
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering
·
2024
·
IF 5.4
Xinyuan Qin,Zhongqiao Gan,Haitao Liu,Tingting Tao,Jia He,Xianliang Li,Dong Shang,Xiang Li,Fuwei Xie,Jianhua Qin
Microgels are advanced scaffolds for tissue engineering due to their proper biodegradability, good biocompatibility, and high specific surface area for effective oxygen and nutrient transfer. However, most of the current monodispersed microgel fabrication systems rely heavily on various precision pumps, which highly increase the cost and complexity of their downstream application. In this work, we developed a simple and facile system for the controllable generation of uniform alginate microgels by integrating a gas-shearing strategy into a glass microfluidic device. Importantly, the cell-laden microgels can be rapidly prepared in a pump-free manner under an all-aqueous environment. The three-dimensional cultured green fluorescent protein-human A549 cells in alginate microgels exhibited enhanced stemness and drug resistance compared to those under two-dimensional conditions. The pancreatic cancer organoids in alginate microgels exhibited some of the key features of pancreatic cancer. The proposed microgels showed decent monodispersity, biocompatibility, and versatility, providing great opportunities in various biomedical applications such as microcarrier fabricating, organoid engineering, and high-throughput drug screening.
研究领域:
组织工程
·
生物医学工程
·
细胞生物学
·
癌症研究
·
药学
✓ 已验证
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
TALANTA
·
2024
·
IF 5.6
Zhengshan Zhu,Zilan Lv,Li Wang,Haolan Tan,Yi Xu,Shunbo Li,Li Chen
Developing portable and sensitive biosensors for bacteria detection is highly demanded due to their association with environmental and food safety. Paper-based microfluidic chip is the suitable candidate for constructing pump-free biosensor since paper is hydrophilic, low-cost and easy to use. However, the contradiction between sensitivity and small sample volume seriously affects the application of paper-based chip for bacteria detection. Here, a new microfluidic biosensor, combining large PDMS reservoir for sample storage, hydrophilic paper substrate for pump-free water transport, coated microspheres for bacteria capture and super absorbent resin for water absorption, is designed for the detection of bacteria in aqueous samples. Once the sample solution is introduced in the reservoir, water will automatically flow through the gaps between microspheres and the target bacteria will be captured by the aptamer coated on the surface. To facilitate PDMS reservoir bonding and ensure water transport, the upper side of paper substrate is coated with Polyethylenimine modified PDMS and the bottom side is kept unchanged. After all the solution is filtrated, fluorescent dye strained bacteria are enriched on the microspheres. The fluorescent intensity representing the number of bacteria captured is then measured using a portable instrument. Through the designed microfluidic biosensor, the bacteria detection can be achieved with 2 mL sample solution in less than 15 min for water or 20 min for diluted milk. A linear range from 10 CFU/mL to 1000 CFU/mL is obtained. The paper-based 3D biosensor has the merits of low-cost, simple operation, pump-free and high sensitivity and it can be applied to the simultaneous detection of multiple bacteria via integrating different aptamers.
研究领域:
微流控技术
·
生物传感器
·
环境科学
·
食品安全
·
分析化学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）