A microsecond microfluidic mixer for characterizing fast biochemical reactions

Analysis of fast biochemical reactions requires rapid mixing of solutions. Micromixers can achieve uniform mixing of solutions in a short time and have been recognized as an attractive tool to analyze fast reactions. However, it is still a challenge to design mixers with simple structure and short dead time. Here, a zigzag turbulent micromixer was developed with a rapid mixing time of 16 μs at sample consumption of 10 μL/s. Numerical simulations and confocal imaging validated this result. Application of the chemiluminescence (CL) reaction demonstrated the use of this mixer in analyzing the kinetic process of the CL reaction. In comparison to the turbulent micromixers reported previously, this zigzag mixer has advantages of short dead time, simple structure and low sample consumption. We anticipate the developed mixer to be a useful tool in studying biochemical kinetics or be integrated to Lab-on-a-chip device as a pretreatment functional unit.