skip to main content


Title: Few-body hydrodynamic interactions probed by optical trap pulling experiment

We study the hydrodynamic coupling of neighboring micro-beads placed in a multiple optical trap setup allowing us to precisely control the degree of coupling and directly measure time-dependent trajectories of entrained beads. We performed measurements on configurations with increasing complexity starting with a pair of entrained beads moving in one dimension, then in two dimensions, and finally a triplet of beads moving in two dimensions. The average experimental trajectories of a probe bead compare well with the theoretical computation, illustrating the role of viscous coupling and setting timescales for probe bead relaxation. The findings also provide direct experimental corroborations of hydrodynamic coupling at large, micrometer spatial scales and long, millisecond timescales, of relevance to, e.g., microfluidic device design and hydrodynamic-assisted colloidal assembly, improving the capability of optical tweezers, and understanding the coupling between micrometer-scale objects within a living cell.

 
more » « less
Award ID(s):
1919439
NSF-PAR ID:
10476923
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
AIP
Date Published:
Journal Name:
The Journal of Chemical Physics
Volume:
159
Issue:
2
ISSN:
0021-9606
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Abstract

    In this work, we report a numerical flow-focused study of bead magnetophoresis inside a continuous-flow microchannel in order to provide a detailed analysis of bead motion and its effect on fluid flow. The numerical model involves a Lagrangian approach and predicts the bead separation from blood and their collection into a flowing buffer by the application of a magnetic field generated by a permanent magnet. The following scenarios are modelled: (i) one-way coupling wherein momentum is transferred from the fluid to beads, which are treated as point particles, (ii) two-way coupling wherein the beads are treated as point particles and momentum is transferred from the bead to the fluid and vice versa, and (iii) two-way coupling taking into account the effects of bead volume in fluid displacement. The results indicate that although there is little difference in the bead trajectories for the three scenarios, there is significant variation in the flow fields, especially when high magnetic forces are applied on the beads. Therefore, an accurate full flow-focused model that takes into account the effects of the bead motion and volume on the flow field should be solved when high magnetic forces are employed. Nonetheless, when the beads are subjected to medium or low magnetic forces, computationally inexpensive models can be safely employed to model magnetophoresis.

     
    more » « less
  2. null (Ed.)
    The size of a probe bead reported by holographic particle characterization depends on the proportion of the surface area covered by bound target molecules and so can be used as an assay for molecular binding. We validate this technique by measuring the kinetics of irreversible binding for the antibodies immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin M (IgM) as they attach to micrometer-diameter colloidal beads coated with protein A. These measurements yield the antibodies’ binding rates and can be inverted to obtain the concentration of antibodies in solution. Holographic molecular binding assays therefore can be used to perform fast quantitative immunoassays that are complementary to conventional serological tests. 
    more » « less
  3. Micron-sized dye-doped polymer beads were imaged using transmitted/reflected light microscopy and photothermal heterodyne imaging (PHI) measurements. The transmitted/reflected light images show distinct ring patterns that are attributed to diffraction effects and/or internal reflections within the beads. In the PHI experiments pump laser induced heating changes the refractive index and size of the bead, which causes changes in the diffraction pattern and internal reflections. This creates an analogous ring pattern in the PHI images. The ring pattern disappears in both the reflected light and PHI experiments when an incoherent light source is used as a probe. When the beads are imaged in an organic medium heat transfer changes the refractive index of the environment, and gives rise to a ring pattern external to the beads in the PHI images. This causes the beads to appear larger than their physical dimensions in PHI experiments. This external signal does not appear when the beads are imaged in air because the refractive index changes in air are very small.

     
    more » « less
  4. Thin-film flow down a fibre exhibits rich dynamics and is relevant to applications such as desalination, fibre coating and fog harvesting. These flows are subject to instabilities that result in dynamic bead-on-fibre patterns. We perform an experimental study of shear-thinning flow down fibres using 20 different xanthan gum solutions as our working liquid. The bead-on-fibre morphology can be oriented either symmetrically or asymmetrically on the fibre, and this depends upon the surface tension, fibre diameter and liquid rheology, as defined by the Ostwald power-law index. For highly shear-thinning liquids, it is possible for the pattern to be complex and exhibit simultaneously both asymmetric large beads and symmetric small beads in the isolated and convective flow regimes. We quantify the transition between flow regimes and bead dynamics for the asymmetric morphology, and compare with Newtonian flow, as it depends upon the experimental parameters. Finally, the dimensionless bead frequency is shown to scale with the Bond number for all of our experimental data (symmetric and asymmetric).

     
    more » « less
  5. Abstract

    Hydrogel-encapsulated catalysts are an attractive tool for low-cost intensification of (bio)-processes. Polyvinyl alcohol-sodium alginate hydrogels crosslinked with boric acid and post-cured with sulfate (PVA-SA-BS) have been applied in bioproduction and water treatment processes, but the low pH required for crosslinking may negatively affect biocatalyst functionality. Here, we investigate how crosslinking pH (3, 4, and 5) and time (1, 2, and 8 h) affect the physicochemical, elastic, and process properties of PVA-SA-BS beads. Overall, bead properties were most affected by crosslinking pH. Beads produced at pH 3 and 4 were smaller and contained larger internal cavities, while optical coherence tomography suggested polymer cross-linking density was higher. Optical coherence elastography revealed PVA-SA-BS beads produced at pH 3 and 4 were stiffer than pH 5 beads. Dextran Blue release showed that pH 3-produced beads enabled higher diffusion rates and were more porous. Last, over a 28-day incubation, pH 3 and 4 beads lost more microspheres (as cell proxies) than beads produced at pH 5, while the latter released more polymer material. Overall, this study provides a path forward to tailor PVA-SA-BS hydrogel bead properties towards a broad range of applications, such as chemical, enzymatic, and microbially catalyzed (bio)-processes.

     
    more » « less