Flow Control in Porous Media: From Numerical Analysis to Quantitative μPAD for Ionic Strength Measurements
Microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (µPADs) are a promising technology to enable accurate and quantitative in situ assays. Paper’s inherent hydrophilicity drives the fluids without the need for external pressure sources. However, controlling the flow in the porous medium has remained a chall...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-05-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/10/3328 |
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| author | Pouya Mehrdel Hamid Khosravi Shadi Karimi Joan Antoni López Martínez Jasmina Casals-Terré |
| author_facet | Pouya Mehrdel Hamid Khosravi Shadi Karimi Joan Antoni López Martínez Jasmina Casals-Terré |
| author_sort | Pouya Mehrdel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (µPADs) are a promising technology to enable accurate and quantitative in situ assays. Paper’s inherent hydrophilicity drives the fluids without the need for external pressure sources. However, controlling the flow in the porous medium has remained a challenge. This study addresses this problem from the nature of the paper substrate and its design. A computational fluid dynamic model has been developed, which couples the characteristics of the porous media (fiber length, fiber diameter and porosity) to the fluidic performance of the diffusion-based µPAD sensor. The numerical results showed that for a given porous membrane, the diffusion, and therefore the sensor performance is affected not only by the substrate nature but also by the inlets’ orientation. Given a porous substrate, the optimum performance is achieved by the lowest inlets’ angle. A diffusion-based self-referencing colorimetric sensor was built and validated according to the design. The device is able to quantify the hydronium concentration in wines by comparison to 0.1–1.0 M tartaric acid solutions with a 41.3 mM limit of detection. This research showed that by proper adjustments even the simplest µPADs can be used in quantitative assays for agri-food applications. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T11:32:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e21327215e404e25b7733b0532bc0460 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T11:32:11Z |
| publishDate | 2021-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-e21327215e404e25b7733b0532bc04602023-11-21T19:10:47ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202021-05-012110332810.3390/s21103328Flow Control in Porous Media: From Numerical Analysis to Quantitative μPAD for Ionic Strength MeasurementsPouya Mehrdel0Hamid Khosravi1Shadi Karimi2Joan Antoni López Martínez3Jasmina Casals-Terré4Mechanical Engineering Department—Microtech Lab., Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, C/Colom 7-11, CP 08222 Terrassa, SpainMechanical Engineering Department—Microtech Lab., Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, C/Colom 7-11, CP 08222 Terrassa, SpainMechanical Engineering Department—Microtech Lab., Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, C/Colom 7-11, CP 08222 Terrassa, SpainDepartment of Mining, Industrial and ICT Engineering (EMIT), Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, AV. Bases de Manresa 61-73, CP 08240 Manresa, SpainMechanical Engineering Department—Microtech Lab., Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, C/Colom 7-11, CP 08222 Terrassa, SpainMicrofluidic paper-based analytical devices (µPADs) are a promising technology to enable accurate and quantitative in situ assays. Paper’s inherent hydrophilicity drives the fluids without the need for external pressure sources. However, controlling the flow in the porous medium has remained a challenge. This study addresses this problem from the nature of the paper substrate and its design. A computational fluid dynamic model has been developed, which couples the characteristics of the porous media (fiber length, fiber diameter and porosity) to the fluidic performance of the diffusion-based µPAD sensor. The numerical results showed that for a given porous membrane, the diffusion, and therefore the sensor performance is affected not only by the substrate nature but also by the inlets’ orientation. Given a porous substrate, the optimum performance is achieved by the lowest inlets’ angle. A diffusion-based self-referencing colorimetric sensor was built and validated according to the design. The device is able to quantify the hydronium concentration in wines by comparison to 0.1–1.0 M tartaric acid solutions with a 41.3 mM limit of detection. This research showed that by proper adjustments even the simplest µPADs can be used in quantitative assays for agri-food applications.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/10/3328microfluidic paper-based analytical devicescolorimetric detectionquantitative assaynumerical simulationcomputational fluid dynamicsionic strength |
| spellingShingle | Pouya Mehrdel Hamid Khosravi Shadi Karimi Joan Antoni López Martínez Jasmina Casals-Terré Flow Control in Porous Media: From Numerical Analysis to Quantitative μPAD for Ionic Strength Measurements Sensors microfluidic paper-based analytical devices colorimetric detection quantitative assay numerical simulation computational fluid dynamics ionic strength |
| title | Flow Control in Porous Media: From Numerical Analysis to Quantitative μPAD for Ionic Strength Measurements |
| title_full | Flow Control in Porous Media: From Numerical Analysis to Quantitative μPAD for Ionic Strength Measurements |
| title_fullStr | Flow Control in Porous Media: From Numerical Analysis to Quantitative μPAD for Ionic Strength Measurements |
| title_full_unstemmed | Flow Control in Porous Media: From Numerical Analysis to Quantitative μPAD for Ionic Strength Measurements |
| title_short | Flow Control in Porous Media: From Numerical Analysis to Quantitative μPAD for Ionic Strength Measurements |
| title_sort | flow control in porous media from numerical analysis to quantitative μpad for ionic strength measurements |
| topic | microfluidic paper-based analytical devices colorimetric detection quantitative assay numerical simulation computational fluid dynamics ionic strength |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/10/3328 |
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