Nature
A weekly international journal publishing the finest peer-reviewed research in all fields of science and technology on the basis of its originality, importance, interdisciplinary interest, timeliness, accessibility, elegance and surprising conclusions.
Self-Coalescence physics: Understanding and using the fluid version of a zipper fastener
Self-coalescence occurs when a liquid is stretched and made to fold onto itself. Using microfluidics, their unique properties can be used to engineer and deliver precise sequences of reagents to realize complex portable bioassays.
The challenge of integrating and releasing reagents in microfluidics for biosensing
“Self-coalescence” of a liquid in a microstructure containing reagents can be programmed to master the dissolution profiles of picogram quantities of reagents in nanoliter volumes of solutions. This brings new options for chemistry and biosensing at the microscale.
