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We report on the fabrication of an internal reflection element (IRE) combined with a modular polymer microfluidic chip that can be used for attenuated total reflection (ATR) infrared spectroscopy. The IRE is fabricated from a silicon wafer. Two different polymers are used for the fabrication of the two types of modular microfluidic chips, namely polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and cyclic olefin copolymer (COC). The microfluidic chip is modular in the sense that several layers of mixing channels, using the herringbone mixer principle, and reactions chambers, can be stacked to facilitate the study of the desired reaction. A model Paal–Knorr reaction is carried out to prove that the chip works as intended. Furthermore, we highlight the strength of IR spectroscopy as a tool for reaction monitoring by identifying the peaks and showing the different reaction orders at the different steps of the Paal–Knorr reaction. The reduction of the aldehyde groups indicates a (pseudo) first order reaction whereas the vibrational modes associated with the ring formation indicate a zero order reaction. This zero order reaction can be explained with literature, where it is suggested that water acts as a catalyst during the dehydration step, which is the final step in the pyrrole ring formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduce a microfluidic-based self-excited energy conversion system inspired by Kelvin's water dropper but driven by inertia instead of gravity. Two micro water jets are produced by forcing water through two micropores by overpressure. The jets break up into microdroplets which are inductively charged by electrostatic gates. The droplets land on metal targets which are gradually charged up to high voltages. Targets and electrostatic gates are cross-connected in a way similar to Kelvin's water dropper. Application of pressure as driving force instead of gravity as in Kelvin's dropper allows for much higher energy densities. To prevent overcharging of the droplets by the inductive mechanism and consequent droplet loss by repulsion from the target as in Kelvin's water dropper, a voltage divider using inversely connected diodes was introduced in our system to control the charge induction providing self-limiting positive feedback by the diode characteristics. A maximal 18% energy conversion efficiency was obtained with the diode-gated system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]