Measuring nanoparticle flow with the image structure function

Lab Chip. 2013 Jun 21;13(12):2359-63. doi: 10.1039/c3lc00028a. Epub 2013 May 3.

Abstract

We present a technique to measure the velocity and flow profiles of a nanofluid in a microfluidic channel. Importantly, we extract the flow velocity from a series of standard brightfield images without employing particle tracking or laser-enhanced methods. Our analysis retrieves the flow information from the image structure function of sub-diffraction limited nanoparticles in suspension. We are able to spatially resolve the flow velocity and map out the parabolic flow profile across the width of a microfluidic channel.

MeSH terms

  • Gold / chemistry
  • Lasers
  • Metal Nanoparticles / chemistry
  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / instrumentation
  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / methods*
  • Nanoparticles / chemistry*

Substances

  • Gold