Efficient microwave heating of microfluidic systems

This paper presents a 2.45 GHz microwave cavity resonator with the novel dual function of both sensitive dielectric characterisation and directed, volumetric heating of fluids in a microfluidic chip. This method is shown to have a higher efficiency (>90% for methanol) than previous microfluidic microwave heating methods and can regulate heating using real time cavity characterisation. The system is simple, robust and does not require on-chip integration of microwave waveguide structures. Furthermore, this method can be combined with miniaturised resonators (such as split rings) for localisation of heating within a microfluidic chip.