HOW DOES CARBON DIOXIDE DISSOLVE?

+FAST +EFFECTIVE +INTEGRATED

The solubility of gaseous carbon dioxide (CO₂) in a solvent and the rate of its dissolution critically impact a broad range of applications in: carbon management, medicine, geophysics and chemical synthesis. Examples of applications in which CO₂ acts as a solute include the sequestration of CO₂ in liquids, the development of blood substitutes with high gas solubilities, the use of microscale CO₂ bubbles for contrast enhancement in biomedical imaging, the role of dissolved CO₂ in the carbon balance of the oceans, etc.

Using IRDQ’s partners laboratories , Prof. Axel Guenther at the University of Toronto developed the first automated microfluidic platform for the combined study of CO₂ dissolution and solubility in different physical solvents. The microfabricated chip produces results about 300 times faster than typical large scale methods.

REFERENCE

[1] Milad Abolhasani, Mayank Singh, Eugenia Kumachevab, Axel Günther, Lab Chip,12, 1611-1618 (2012)

RESEARCHER

Pr. A. Guenther (University of Toronto)

IRDQ CONTRIBUTION

• Sputtering deposition
• Inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICP-RIE)
• Wet etching
• Mask aligner
• Reactive ion etching (RIE)