Combining Nondeterministic Separation and Chemical Interactions for Concentration of Nanoparticles

Abstract

Standard Form 298 (Rev. 8-98)Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39.18Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing this collection of information. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) SPONSOR / MONITOR'S ACRONYM(S) 9. SPONSORING / MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) SPONSOR / MONITOR'S REPORT NUMBER(S) NRLThis report summarizes the results of studies conducted to evaluate the potential utility of separation techniques based on Brownian motion. Two generations of ratchet devices and four different chemical functionalities were evaluated. The devices were used to alter concentration profiles for polystyrene nanoparticles in aqueous solutions. Key paramaters such as feature size, flow rate, and particle concentration were considered. The study demonstrated that nondeterministic separation has potential for application to continuous separation of nanoparticle materials. In addition, it demonstrated that chemical surface functionalities can be used to significantly alter the performance of the devices.