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Review
. 2017 Jun 25;8(7):204.
doi: 10.3390/mi8070204.

Microfluidic and Nanofluidic Resistive Pulse Sensing: A Review

Yongxin Song  1 , Junyan Zhang  2 , Dongqing Li  3
Affiliations
Review

Microfluidic and Nanofluidic Resistive Pulse Sensing: A Review

Yongxin Song et al. Micromachines (Basel). .

Abstract

The resistive pulse sensing (RPS) method based on the Coulter principle is a powerful method for particle counting and sizing in electrolyte solutions. With the advancement of micro- and nano-fabrication technologies, microfluidic and nanofluidic resistive pulse sensing technologies and devices have been developed. Due to the unique advantages of microfluidics and nanofluidics, RPS sensors are enabled with more functions with greatly improved sensitivity and throughput and thus have wide applications in fields of biomedical research, clinical diagnosis, and so on. Firstly, this paper reviews some basic theories of particle sizing and counting. Emphasis is then given to the latest development of microfuidic and nanofluidic RPS technologies within the last 6 years, ranging from some new phenomena, methods of improving the sensitivity and throughput, and their applications, to some popular nanopore or nanochannel fabrication techniques. The future research directions and challenges on microfluidic and nanofluidic RPS are also outlined.

Keywords: microfluidics and nanofluidics; particle sizing and counting; resistive pulse sensing; review.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Working principle of a microfluidic resistive pulse sensing (RPS) system.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Dependence of the magnitudes of measured RPS signals on the applied voltages and (b) the induced electrical double layer.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The structure of the high throughput microfluidic chip.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) A schematic diagram of the system setup, and (b) the structure of the microfluidic chip.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) A schematic diagram of the system setup, and (b) the structure of the microfluidic chip.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) Typical flow trajectory, and (b) detected RPS signals of 1 μm particles (VA = 27 V, VB = 52 V, VC = 0 V and VD = 24 V).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Procedures for polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) nanochannel fabrication by using a solvent-induced nanocrack. (a1) making microdefects on a polystyrene slab by using an indenter of a micro-hardness testing system; (a2) absorption of the solvent; (a3) swelling of the polystyrene surface and initialization of nanocracks; (a4) nanocracks on the polystyrene surface. (b1) spin-coating of SU8 photoresist on the polystyrene slab with nanocracks; (b2) exposure the SU-8 layer to UV light. (c1) fabricating of solidifying smooth cast slab; (c2) nanoimprint by using a pressure gauge. (d)–(i) Show how to make a PDMS micro–nanofluidic chip by using the nanochannel mold: (d) nanochannel mold after peeling off process; (e) coating of x-PDMS on the nanochannel mold; (f) casting another layer of regular PDMS on the x-PDMS; (g) bi-layer PDMS nanochannel; (h) fabrication of bi-layer microchannel system; (i) PDMS micro–nanofluidic chip after bonding.
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