Skip to main content
Log in

Dual thermopile integrated microfluidic calorimeter for biochemical thermodynamics

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Microfluidics and Nanofluidics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article presents a new design of a silicon-based microcalorimeter made with dual thermopiles and a microchannel. The dual thermopile was fabricated with chromium and copper using a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technique, and the microchannel was made of PDMS using soft-lithography. Each thermopile consists of 26 thermocouple pairs and 50 μm wide electrodes. The total sensitivity of thermopile is 428 μV/K. The dual thermopile system enables the microcalorimeter to acquire reliable data in a rapid and convenient manner because it detects the reaction and reference temperatures simultaneously. This self-compensation allows our device to analyze a few microliters of sample solution without the need for a surrounding adiabatic vacuum.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baier V, Födisch R, Ihring A, Kessler E, Lerchner J, Wolf G, Köhler JM, Nietzsch M, Krügel M (2005) Highly sensitive thermopile heat power sensor for micro-fluid calorimetry of biochemical process. Sens Actuators A Phys 123:354–359

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper A (2005) Heat capacity effects in protein folding and ligand binding: a re-evaluation of the role of water in biomolecular thermodynamics. Biophys Chem 115:89–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hong CC, Choi JW, Ahn CH (2004) A novel in-plane passive microfluidic mixer with modified Tesla structures. Lab Chip 4:109–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jen CP, Wu CY, Lin YC, Wu CY (2003) Design and simulation of the micromixer with chaotic advection in twisted microchannels. Lab Chip 3:77–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kays WM, Crawford ME, Bernhard W (2005) Convective heat and mass transfer, 4th edn. McGraw Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Lerchner J, Maskow T, Wolf G Chip calorimetry and its use for biochemical and cell biological investigations. Chem Eng Process (in press). doi:10.1016/j.cep.2007.02.014

  • Lerchner J, Wolf A, Wolf G, Baier V, Kessler E, Nietzsch M, Krügel M (2006) A new micro-fluid chip calorimeter for biochemical applications. J Thermochim Acta 445:144–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maskow T, Lerchner J, Peitzsch M, Harms H, Wolf G (2006) Chip calorimeter for the monitoring of whole cell biotransformation. J Biotechnol 122:431–442

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merzlyakov M (2003) Integrated circuit thermopile as a new type of temperature modulated calorimeter. J Thermochim Acta 403:65–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mills AF (1999) Basic heat and mass transfer, 2nd edn. Prentice Hall, New Jersey

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore JP, Williams RK, Graves RS (1997) Thermal conductivity, electrical resistivity, and Seebeck coefficient of high-purity chromium from 280 to 1000 K. J Appl Phys 48(2):610–617

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ottino JM (1989) The kinematics of mixing: stretching, chaos, and transport. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Verhaegen K, Baert K, Simaels J, Driessche WV (2000) A high-throughput silicon microphysiometer. Sens Actuators A Phys 82:186–190

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yoon SI, Park SC, Kim YJ (2006) A microcalorimeter based on split-flow microchannel for biochemical applications with no-calibration. 20th EURO Sens 1:416–417

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Y, Tadigadapa S (2004) Calorimetric biosensors with integrated microfluidic channels. Biosens Bioelectron 19:1733–1743

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Basic Research Program of the Korea Science & Engineering Foundation (Grant no. R01-2005-000-10160-0(2006)), ICBIN of Seoul R&BD program (Grant no. 10816), and National Core Research Center for Nanomedical Technology of the Korea Science & Engineering Foundation (Grant no. R15-2004-024-01001-0).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to H. I. Jung.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kwak, B.S., Kim, B.S., Cho, H.H. et al. Dual thermopile integrated microfluidic calorimeter for biochemical thermodynamics. Microfluid Nanofluid 5, 255–262 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-007-0243-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-007-0243-7

Keywords

Navigation