Our research involves designing miniaturized devices for energy and analytical chemistry applications using advances in micro- and nanofabrication technology. We are also interested in understanding the transport of chemical and biological molecules as they travel through micro- and sub-micrometer scale channels. Both theoretical and experimental tools are being used in our laboratory to accomplish these research objectives. Specific projects that are currently being pursued involve (1) designing novel proton exchange membrane structures for microfluidic fuel cells (2) designing new separation schemes that exploit the large surface area to volume ratio in nanoscale devices (3) designing portable sensors for detection of chemical and biological species

RECENT PAPERS:

1. D. Dutta, 2007, “Electroosmotic transport through rectangular channels with small zeta potentials”, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 315(2), 740-746

2. D. Dutta, 2007, “Transport of charged samples in fluidic channels with large zeta potentials”, Electrophoresis, 28(24), 4552-4560

3. D. Dutta, A. Ramachandran and D.T. Leighton, 2006, “Effect of channel geometry on solute dispersion in pressure-driven microfluidic systems”, Microfluidics and Nanofluidics, 2(4), 275-290 (invited review)

4. D. Dutta and D.T. Leighton, 2003, “Dispersion reduction in open-channel liquid electro-chromatographic columns via pressure-driven back flow”, Analytical Chemistry, 75(14), 3020-3027