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Droplet microfluidic preparation of au nanoparticles-coated chitosan microbeads for flow-through surface-enhanced Raman scattering detection

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Abstract

An integrated microfluidic device was fabricated to enable on-chip droplet forming, trapping, fusing, shrinking, reaction and producing functional microbeads for a flow-through single bead-based molecule detection. Dielectrophoresis (DEP) force was used to transport target polymer droplets into different predefined microwells, where the droplets were fused through electrocoalescence to form a new one with a desired diameter. In a continuous water loss process with water diffusion to oil phase, the polymer droplet was shrunken and solidified to form a polymer microbead. For a demonstration, Au nanoparticles-coated chitosan microbeads were in situ fabricated through droplet trapping, fusion and shrinking, followed by synthesis of Au nanoparticles on the microbead surface via a photoreduction process. The produced Au nanoparticle/chitosan microbead embedded in the microwell resulted in a highly sensitive, flow-through surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection of Rhodamine 6G (R6G). This work successfully demonstrates an integrated droplet based lab-on-a chip and its application to fabricate an extremely high-throughput single bead based detection platform.

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Author notes

  1. Xiao Qiang Cui

    Present address: Research Institute for Cell Engineering, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Ikeda, Osaka, 563-8577, Japan

  2. Qiao Liang Bao

    Present address: Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 3, Singapore, 119077, Singapore

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 70 Nanyang Drive, Singapore, 637457, Singapore

    Wei Wang, Xiao Qiang Cui, Qiao Liang Bao & Chang Ming Li

  2. School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 637457, Singapore

    Chun Yang

Authors
  1. Wei Wang
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  2. Chun Yang
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  3. Xiao Qiang Cui
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  4. Qiao Liang Bao
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  5. Chang Ming Li
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Correspondence to Chang Ming Li.

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Wang, W., Yang, C., Cui, X.Q. et al. Droplet microfluidic preparation of au nanoparticles-coated chitosan microbeads for flow-through surface-enhanced Raman scattering detection. Microfluid Nanofluid 9, 1175–1183 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-010-0639-7

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