Issue 15, 2023

A microfluidic chip for geoelectrical monitoring of critical zone processes

Abstract

We miniaturize geoelectrical acquisition using advanced microfabrication technologies to investigate coupled processes in the critical zone. We focus on the development of the complex electrical conductivity acquisition with the spectral induced polarization (SIP) method on a microfluidic chip equipped with electrodes. SIP is an innovative detection method that has the potential to monitor biogeochemical processes. However, due to the lack of microscale visualization of the processes, the interpretation of the SIP response remains under debate. This approach at the micrometer scale allows working in well-controlled conditions, with real-time monitoring by high-speed and high-resolution microscopy. It enables direct observation of microscopic reactive transport processes in the critical zone. We monitor the dissolution of pure calcite, a common geochemical reaction studied as an analog of the water–mineral interactions. We highlight the strong correlation between SIP response and dissolution through image processing. These results demonstrate that the proposed technological advancement will provide a further understanding of the critical zone processes through SIP observation.

Graphical abstract: A microfluidic chip for geoelectrical monitoring of critical zone processes

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
02 May 2023
Accepted
02 Jun 2023
First published
07 Jul 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Lab Chip, 2023,23, 3433-3442

A microfluidic chip for geoelectrical monitoring of critical zone processes

F. Rembert, A. Stolz, C. Soulaine and S. Roman, Lab Chip, 2023, 23, 3433 DOI: 10.1039/D3LC00377A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements