Prof. Adrian Fisher

Our research unites a range of interdisciplinary technologies  including; microfabrication, fluid dynamics, numerical simulations,  spectroscopic analysis and electrochemical methodology. These  technologies are employed to design, manufacture and apply microscale  reactor systems for the development of the next generation of  (bio)chemical sensors.

The sensor technology is designed and constructed using our own  dedicated microfabrication facilities. This approach allows us to  create flow through cells of optimal sensor configurations, with  critical dimensions in the range, Height: 10-50 μm, Width: 40-200 μm  and Length: 500+ μm, The motivation of the research is the development  of new/efficient (bio)chemical based sensors and the microfabrication  approach offers many potential advantages over traditional larger  scale technologies, eg

• A vast range of optimised experimental geometries can be rapidly  fabricated and tested
• The minute mixing and reaction chambers offer significant  improvements in analysis times and the sample volumes required.
• Wide range of sensor applications are possible (eg biochemical,  electroanalytical chemistry, modified electrodes, etc).

The group also uses computational methods in order to aid in the  design and analysis stages of the sensor development. In these  simulations finite element based codes are used in order to, (i)  predict the fluid flow properties within candidate reactor designs,  (ii) calculate the chemical reactant/intermediate/product distribution  within the cells (iii) extract kinetic/mechanistic parameters for  processes of interest (iv) act as a computer aided design tool for the  optimisation of candidate sensor configurations.