Abstract The 1-dimentional model of aerosol process which includes a hot aerosol stream flowing through a tube with thermal gradients between the aerosols stream and the reactor cooled walls was developed to predict the aerosol formation, growth and thermophoretic deposition in high-temperature reactors. The mass and energy conservation equations were solved to determine the concentration and temperature profiles of the components. The model includes particle formation by nucleation, growth by coagulation, Brownian diffusion as well as the loss of aerosol particles by thermophoretic deposition on the cold reactor walls. The developed model results in the system of ordinary differential equations which were solved in SCILAB software.

This dissertation presents and explores a technique to confine and manipulate single and multiple nano-objects in solution by exploiting the thermophoretic interactions with local temperature gradients. The method named thermophoretic trap uses an all-optically controlled heating via plasmonic absorption by a gold nano-structure designed for this purpose. The dissipation of absorbed laser light to thermal energy generates a localized temperature field. The spatial localization of the heat source thereby leads to strong temperature gradients that are used to drive a particle or molecule into a desired direction. The behavior of nano-objects confined by thermal inhomogeneities is explored experimentally as well as theoretically. The monograph treats three major experimental stages of development, which essentially differ in the way the heating laser beam is shaped and controlled. In a first generation, a static heating of an appropriate gold structure is used to induce a steady temperature profile that exhibits a local minimum in which particles can be confined. This simple realization illustrates the working principle best. In a second step, the static heating is replaced. A focused laser beam is used to heat a smaller spatial region. In order to confine a particle, the beam is steered in circles along a circular gold structure. The trapping dynamics are studied in detail and reveal similarities to the well-established Paul trap. The largest part of the thesis is dedicated to the third generation of the trap. While the hardware is identical to the second generation, using the real-time information on the position of the trapped object to heat only particular sites of the gold structure strongly increases the efficiency of the trap compared to the earlier versions. Beyond that, the optical feedback control allows for an active shaping of the effective virtual trapping potential by applying modified feedback rules, including e.g. a double-well or a box-like potential. This transforms the formerly pure trapping device to a versatile technique for micro and nano-fluidic manipulation. The physical and technical contributions to the limits of the method are explored. Finally, the feasibility of trapping single macro-molecules is demonstrated by the confinement of lambda-DNA for extended time periods over which the molecules center-of-mass motion as well as its conformational dynamics can be studied.

Low-cost, highly-sensitivity, and minimally invasive tests for the detection and monitoring of life-threatening cancers can reduce the worldwide disease burden. The disease diagnosis community is constantly working to improve the detection capabilities of the deadly cancers (e.g.: pancreatic and lung) at their early stages. Still there were many cancers cannot be detected at their early stages due to lack of early diagnosis techniques. One of the reason being, many cancers that occur in the body release minute amounts of biomarker molecules during the initial stages (e.g.: DNA, RNA, miRNA and antigens) in the body fluids such as blood and serum. Since the traditional bio-sensing techniques have reached their maximum capacity in terms of critical performance parameters (sensitivity, detection time, reproducibility and limit of detection) there is an urgent need for innovative approaches that can fill this gap. To address this unmet need, here we report on developing a novel bio-sensing technique for detecting and quantifying biomolecules from the patients’ plasma/serum samples at point-of-care settings. Here we have investigated the novel interactions between biomolecules and externally applied fields to effectively manipulate and specifically concentrate them at a certain detection spots near electrodes on the detection device. Then the near-field interactions between the fluorophores and the free electrons on metal surfaces were successfully integrated with the externally applied low frequency (<10MHz) electric field, to achieve maximum florescence enhancement, that produces the detection limit of target-biomolecules in the rage of femto molars (fM). Moreover, the externally applied electric potential produces dielectrophoretic and thermophoretic force on the biomolecules, together with these forces we were able to separate the fluorophore-labelled rare target-biomolecules from the others in a sample. The novel integrated technique is tested and proved to be superior to the current gold standards (qRT-PCR and ELISA) for target-biomolecules detection in critical performance parameters. Finally the technique was used to analyze healthy and pancreatic cancer patients’ samples and further it has been proved that we can differentiate the healthy individuals and cancer patients. In addition, this technique is being applied to the other diseases such as obesity, opioid addiction and other types of cancers.

Practical combustion devices such as gas turbines and diesel engines operate at high pressures to increase their efficiency. Pressure significantly increases the overall soot yield. Morphology of these ultra-fine particles determines their airborne lifetime and their interaction with the human respiratory system. Therefore, investigating soot morphology at high pressure is of practical relevance. In this work, a novel experimental setup has been designed and built to study the soot morphology at elevated pressures. The experimental setup consists of a pressure vessel, which can provide optical access from 10° to 165° for multi-angle light scattering, and a counterflow burner which produces laminar flames at elevated pressures. In the first part of the study, N2-diluted ethylene/air and ethane air counterflow flames are stabilized from 2 to 5 atm. Two-angle light scattering and extinction technique have been used to study the effects of pressure on soot parameters. Path averaged soot volume fraction is found to be very sensitive to pressure and increased significantly from 2 to 5 atm. Primary particle size and aggregate size also increased with pressure. Multi-angle light scattering is also performed and flames are investigated from 3 to 5 atm. Scattering to absorption ratio is calculated from multi-angle light scattering and extinction data. Scattering to absorption ratio increased with pressure whereas the number of primary particles in an aggregate decreased with increasing pressure. In the next part of the study, Thermophoretic Sampling of soot is performed, in counterflow flames from 3 to 10 atm, followed by transmission electron microscopy. Mean primary particle size increased with pressure and these trends are consistent withour light scattering measurements. Fractal properties of soot aggregates are found to be insensitive to pressure. 2D diffused light line of sight attenuation (LOSA) and Laser Induced Incandescence (LII) are used to measure local soot volume fraction from 2 to 10 atm. Local soot volume fraction increased with pressure and soot concentration profiles showed good agreements when measured by both techniques. Experimental data obtained in this work is very helpful for the modelers for validating their codes and predicting the soot formation in pressurized flames.

Abstract: Soot from combustion emissions has a negative impact on human health and the environment. Understanding and controlling soot formation is desirable to reduce this negative impact, especially as energy demands continue to increase. In this work, a range of fundamental combustion experiments are performed to better understand the soot formation process, and to develop diagnostics for measuring soot properties. First, studies on the effects of doping the flame with different polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was performed to investigate soot nucleation mechanisms. Soot formation was found to be most sensitive to phenylacetylene addition and nucleation through physical dimerization appears to be unlikely. Next, the effects of ammonia addition, a possible future fuel, on soot formation in laminar nonpremixed ethylene counterflow flames was performed. A reduction in soot volume fraction was observed and attributed to chemical effects of ammonia addition. Second, the investigation and development of several types of diagnostics was performed. Soot is typically reported to scale with pressure as Pn where P is pressure and n is a scaling factor. A wide range of scaling factors for ethylene coflow flames have been reported using different types of diagnostics. In this work, a comparison between a light extinction technique and PLII was performed and differences between reported values was explored. Next, the time resolved laser induced incandescence (TiRe-LII) diagnostic was advanced by exploring the effects of SVF on local gas heating. Errors introduced into this model by neglecting local gas heating are explored. Finally, a new diagnostic was developed for 3 dimensional measurements of SVF and velocity in turbulent flames using a technique known as diffuse-backlight illumination extinction imaging. Third, the application of gated 2D TiRe-LII was assessed in pressurized environments on laminar coflow flames. Comparisons between TiRe-LII and thermophoretically captured soot imaged by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was performed. TiRe-LII was found to have reasonable agreement with TEM measurements if the SNR was high, but due to the large disparity in primary particle size in pressurized environments errors in 2D TiRe-LII can be significant.

This thesis investigates several phenomena that are associated with (self-)thermophoretic Janus particles with hemispheres made from different materials serving as a paradigm for active propul- sion on the microscale. (i) The dynamics of a single Janus sphere in the external temperature field created by an immobilized heat source is studied. I show that the particle’s angular velocity is solely determined by the temperature profile on the equator between the Janus particle’s hemispheres and their phoretic mobility contrast. (ii) The distinct polarization-density patterns observed for active-particle suspensions in activity landscapes are addressed. The results of my approximate theoretical model agree well with exact numerical and measurement data for a thermophoretic microswimmer, and can serve as a template for more complex applications. The essential physics behind the formal results is robustly captured and elucidated by a schematic two-species “run- and-tumble” model. (iii) I investigate coarse-grained models of suspended self-thermo- phoretic microswimmers. Starting from atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, the coarse-grained de- scription of the fluid in terms of a local molecular temperature field is verified, and effective nonequilibrium temperatures characterizing the particle’s so called hot Brownian motion are mea- sured from simulations. They are theoretically shown to remain relevant for any further spatial coarse-graining towards a hydrodynamic description of the entire suspension as a homogeneous complex fluid. / In dieser Arbeit untersuche ich mehrere Phänomene, die im Zusammenhang mit (selbst-)thermo- phoretischen Janusteilchen auftreten. Diese Teilchen bestehen aus zwei Halbkugeln mit unter- schiedlichen Materialeigenschaften und dienen in dieser Arbeit als Musterbeispiel für aktive Fort- bewegung auf der Mikroskala. (i) Die Dynamik eines einzelnen Janusteilchens im externen Temper- aturfeld einer ortsfesten Heizquelle wird untersucht. Es wird gezeigt, dass die Winkelgeschwindigkeit des Teilchens ausschließlich durch das Temperaturprofil am Äquator zwischen den Hemisphären des Janusteilchens und dem Unterschied ihrer phoretischen Mobilitäten bestimmt wird. (ii) Ich befasse mich mit den charakteristischen Polarisations- und Dichteprofilen, die für aktive Teilchen in Aktivitätslandschaften beobachtet werden. Die Ergebnisse meines approximativen theoretis- chen Modells stimmen gut mit exakten numerischen Lösungen und Messdaten für einen ther- mophoretischen Mikroschwimmer überein und können als Vorlage für komplexere Anwendungen dienen. Die wesentliche Physik hinter den formalen Ergebnissen wird durch ein schematisches Zwei-Spezies-“Run-and-Tumble”-Modell erfasst und erklärt. (iii) Ich untersuche Coarse-Graining- Modelle von suspendierten selbst-thermophoretischen Mikroschwimmern. Ausgehend von atom- istischen molekulardynamischen Simulationen wird die grobkörnige (coarse-grained) Beschreibung des Fluids in Form eines lokalen molekularen Temperaturfeldes verifiziert. Anschließend berechne ich effektive Nichtgleichgewichtstemperaturen, die die sogenannte heiße Brownsche Bewegung der Teilchen charakterisieren, und vergleiche diese mit Simulationsdaten. Es wird gezeigt, dass diese effektiven Temperaturen für jede weitere räumliche Vergröberung hin zu einer hydrodynamischen Beschreibung der gesamten Suspension als homogenes komplexes Fluid relevant bleiben.

This dissertation presents and explores a technique to confine and manipulate single and multiple nano-objects in solution by exploiting the thermophoretic interactions with local temperature gradients. The method named thermophoretic trap uses an all-optically controlled heating via plasmonic absorption by a gold nano-structure designed for this purpose. The dissipation of absorbed laser light to thermal energy generates a localized temperature field. The spatial localization of the heat source thereby leads to strong temperature gradients that are used to drive a particle or molecule into a desired direction. The behavior of nano-objects confined by thermal inhomogeneities is explored experimentally as well as theoretically. The monograph treats three major experimental stages of development, which essentially differ in the way the heating laser beam is shaped and controlled. In a first generation, a static heating of an appropriate gold structure is used to induce a steady temperature profile that exhibits a local minimum in which particles can be confined. This simple realization illustrates the working principle best. In a second step, the static heating is replaced. A focused laser beam is used to heat a smaller spatial region. In order to confine a particle, the beam is steered in circles along a circular gold structure. The trapping dynamics are studied in detail and reveal similarities to the well-established Paul trap. The largest part of the thesis is dedicated to the third generation of the trap. While the hardware is identical to the second generation, using the real-time information on the position of the trapped object to heat only particular sites of the gold structure strongly increases the efficiency of the trap compared to the earlier versions. Beyond that, the optical feedback control allows for an active shaping of the effective virtual trapping potential by applying modified feedback rules, including e.g. a double-well or a box-like potential. This transforms the formerly pure trapping device to a versatile technique for micro and nano-fluidic manipulation. The physical and technical contributions to the limits of the method are explored. Finally, the feasibility of trapping single macro-molecules is demonstrated by the confinement of lambda-DNA for extended time periods over which the molecules center-of-mass motion as well as its conformational dynamics can be studied.

No description available.

Dans le but de montrer l’influence de la morphologie fractale d’un agrégat sur son comportement thermophorétique, un nouveau dispositif expérimental a été développé ; le SpectroMètreThermophorétique Circulaire (SMTC). Cet instrument permet de mesurer la vitesse moyenne de thermophorèse des particules dans une zone de sélection comprise entre une plaque chaude et une plaque froide. Pour cela, nous avons développé une fonction de transfert spécifique au principe de l’instrument sur la base des travaux existant sur les analyseurs différentiels de mobilité électrique.Une qualification expérimentale du SMTC a été réalisée avec des billes de latex monodispersées de tailles comprises entre 64 nm et 500 nm. Le bon accord entre les vitesses de thermophorèse obtenues et la théorie de Beresnev et Chernyak (1995) nous a permis de valider le fonctionnement de l’instrument.Par la suite, nous avons comparé les vitesses de thermophorèse expérimentales obtenues avec le SpectroMètre Thermophorétique Circulaire pour des particules sphériques et des agrégats produits par un générateur d’aérosol à combustion. Contrairement aux résultats obtenus avec les billes de latex, nous observons une augmentation de la vitesse de thermophorèse des agrégats avec leur diamètre de mobilité électrique.Grâce à une étude morphologique des agrégats, nous avons remarqué que la vitesse de thermophorèse est dépendante du nombre de particules primaires de l’agrégat. Ces résultats expérimentaux confirment pour la première fois les données théoriques de Mackowski (2006)obtenues par des simulations Monte-Carlo. De plus, une comparaison avec les travaux de Messerer et al. (2003) montre que la vitesse de thermophorèse des agrégats semble indépendante de la taille des particules primaires. / In order to show the influence of the morphology of a fractal aggregate on its thermophoretic behavior, a new experimental device has been developed; the SpectroMètre ThermophorétiqueCirculaire (SMTC). This instrument is used to measure the mean thermophoretic velocity of particles selected between a hot plate and a cold plate thanks to a transfer function based on the geometry of the radial flow differential mobility analyser RF-DMA or SMEC (Spectromètre de Mobilité Electrique Circulaire). For the experimental validation, effective thermophoretic velocities of monodispersed spherical latex particles for diameters ranging from 64 nm to 500 nm and a temperature gradient equal to 50 750 K/m are measured and compared with theoretical values. The good agreement between the experimentals results and theoretical values of Beresnev and Chernyak (1995) helps us to validate the operation of the instrument.Then we compare experimental thermophoretic velocity obtained with the SMTC for spherical particles and aggregates produced by a combustion aerosol generator. Contrary to the results obtained with the PSL particles, we observe that the thermophoretic velocity of aggregates increases with the electrical mobility diameter. Thanks to a morphological study of the aggregates, we showed that the thermophoretic velocity depends on the number of primary particles of the aggregate. These experimental results confirm,for the first time, the theoretical data of Mackowski (2006) obtained by a Monte Carlo simulation. Moreover, a comparison with the experimental results of Messerer et al. (2003) shows that thethermophoretic velocity of aggregates seems independent of the primary particle size.

No description available.