Figure  1c compares the velocity profile of MAPK inhibitor the laminar flow and the electroosmotic flow across the channel width. Laminar flow is generated by the pressure difference within the channel; thus, the flow profile is greatly influenced by the interaction between the flowing liquid and the channel wall. The small fluidic velocity near the channel wall is the result of a large drag force between the silica channel wall and the water solution. On the other hand, EOF is induced by the mobility of charges near the channel wall. Hence,

the flow velocity is almost the same in a certain range of the channel size. It is noted that EOF has a limited effect when the channel size is larger than 1 μm due to the fact that EDL is usually very thin (in the order of nanometers). The velocity of EOF is given by the Smoluchowski

equation: (1) where ε 0 is the permittivity of vacuum, ε r is the relative permittivity of the filled solution, ζ is the zeta potential of EDL, E is the applied electric field, and η is the dynamic viscosity of the solution. Figure 1 Depiction of the interior of a silica nanochannel in the presence of a buffer solution. (a) Schematic showing the EDL and EO flow. (b) The corresponding potential at selleck compound different layers. (c) Flow profiles of the laminar and electroosmotic flows when the channel dimension is beyond the electric double layer overlapping regime. The zeta potential can be quantified by the well-known Poisson equation for an arbitrary-shaped charged surface: (2) where ∇2 is the Laplacian operator, ifenprodil ψ is the potential at a given position within the EDL, and ρ is the charge density. This equation can be further simplified using the Debye-Hückel approximation [18]: (3) where 1/k is the Debye length. It is concluded that the ion concentration in the filled solution will affect the EOF velocity by altering the zeta potential of EDL as suggested

by Equations 1 and 2. A higher ion concentration of the solution results in lower EOF velocity due to the larger capability to balance the negative charges at the channel wall, and thus, the EDL will be narrowed. This character of variation of EDL can also be expressed by the Debye length which is closely related to the zeta potential as seen in Equation 3. A larger Debye length means a higher zeta potential of EDL and larger EOF velocity. It was reported that the Debye length of silica filled with a 10 μM monovalent ion solution was 100 nm, compared to 0.3 nm when silica was immersed in a 1 M monovalent ion solution [19]. Methods Chip fabrication A two-step deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) was performed to achieve a microreactor chip containing a picoinjector based on a 1D nanochannel. The first step of DRIE was conducted to fabricate the 1D nanochannel junction for liquid delivery.