Digital microfluidics and delivery of molecular payloads with magnetic porous silicon chaperones
Abstract
Digital microfluidics involves the manipulation of molecules and materials in discrete packages. This paper reviews our work using amphiphilic magnetic microparticles constructed from porous silicon. An individual porous particle can be used to carry a nanomole or smaller quantities of a reagent, and assemblies of the particles can encapsulate and transport microliter droplets of liquid containing inorganic, organic, or biological molecules. The tracking and identification of each particle can be accomplished with spectral