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Fluid Dynamics Seminar
Monday, Nov. 15, 2010,
4:00 PM
Cullimore, Room 611
New Jersey Institute of
Technology
Magnetic fluids and microfluidics: A powerful combination
Raquel Perez-Castillejos
Electrical and Computer Engineering; Biomedical Engineering, NJIT
Abstract
Magnetic fluids include ferrofluids—i.e., colloidal suspensions of ferromagnetic nanoparticles—and solutions of magnetic ions (such as Gadolinium). Magnetic fluids respond to applied magnetic fields and when used inside of microfluidic devices, provide unique functionalities to those devices. I will present examples of the synergy of combining microfluidics and magnetic fluids. We have demonstrated the use of ferrofluids to induce (pump function) and to prevent (valve function) the flow of fluids (either liquid or gas) in microchannels, as well as to guide light beams (mirror function) to different channels inside of optofluidic microdevices. I will also discuss the use of paramagnetic solutions to segregate different diamagnetic bodies according to their densities via the mechanism known as magneto-Archimedes levitation.