Hydrodynamic gating for sample introduction on a microfluidic chip†
Abstract
We present a microfluidic sample introduction approach based on a novel flow control mechanism, hydrodynamic gated injection. It has the advantages of easy and flexible flow control, similar to its analog, electrokinetic gated injection, but exhibits the unique properties of strong driving force and good biocompatibility, ideal for applications involving live biological samples. Theories for hydrodynamic gating were proposed and validated by both numerical simulations and flow visualization experiments. An investigation with