JP2005227111A - Woven-fabric-like electrode, and substance filter unit - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inexpensive novel flexible and simple electrode easy to be manufactured and scaled up. <P>SOLUTION: In this woven-fabric-like electrode constituted of a woven fabric with an electrically conductive fabric woven in at least one portion of an electrical insulation woven fabric, electric power is supplied to the electrically conductive fabric woven to form an electric field. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The invention of this application relates to a woven electrode and a material filter device, which are useful for an analysis device using dielectrophoresis.

  In recent years, a method using dielectrophoresis is used for separation / analysis of fine particles, cells, and biological samples.

  Here, dielectrophoresis is a phenomenon in which particles in a non-uniform electric field are polarized positively and negatively by the electric field and move in a direction where the electric field strength is strong or weak. The magnitude of the dielectrophoretic force depends on the dielectric properties of the particles and the medium, the frequency of the electric field, the applied voltage, the particle diameter, and the like. Unlike electrophoresis in which a DC voltage is applied, if there is a difference in the dielectric properties of the particles and the medium, particles having no charge can be migrated.

  As a separation method using such dielectrophoretic force, various methods have been reported so far (Non-Patent Document 1-2), for example, a method for separating a living cell and a dead cell of a yeast cell has also been reported. (Nonpatent literature 3-4).

  However, in the conventional separation / analysis method using the dielectrophoretic force as described above, the electrodes for forming the electric field are plate-like, such as pin-plate type, wire-cylinder type, comb type, and are flexible. And cannot be used for complex refractive surfaces.

  In addition, micromachining techniques such as etching of glass or silicon material and anodic bonding are used as manufacturing methods for comb-shaped electrodes, but these methods require large-scale semiconductor-related manufacturing facilities.

Furthermore, these conventional electrodes have been reported with extremely small electrode cells on the order of micrometers, and are not compatible with large-scale bioreactors.
Craneand Pohl; "A Study of Living and Dead Yeast Cells Using Dielectrophoresis" .JE ledtrochem. Soc., 11,584-586 (1968) Manson and Townsley; ″ Dielectrohoretic Separati on of Living Sells ″. Can. J. Microbiol., 17,879-888 (1971) Biotechnol. Bioeng., 54, 239-250 (1997), Cytotechnol., 30, 133-142 (1999)

  Accordingly, the invention of this application has been made in view of the above-described problems, and provides a new electrode that is flexible, can be easily and easily manufactured, is inexpensive, and can be easily scaled up. It is an issue.

  In order to solve the above problems, the invention of this application is, firstly, an electrode configured by a fabric in which electrically conductive fibers are woven into at least a part of the fabric of electrically insulating fibers. A woven electrode characterized in that an electric field is formed by supplying electric power to an electrically conductive fiber.

  Secondly, a woven electrode characterized in that it is an electrode made of a woven fabric in which electrically conductive fibers are woven by using a shrinkable thread as an electrically insulating fiber. Provides a woven electrode characterized in that it is an electrode made of a woven fabric in which electrically conductive fibers are processed at an arbitrary distance by contracting a shrinkable yarn by a predetermined method.

  Fourthly, the present invention provides a woven electrode characterized in that a specific substance can be separated from other substances by supplying electric power to an electrically conductive fiber to form an electric field.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a material filter device comprising the above-mentioned woven electrode.

  According to the invention of this application as described above, the electrode is formed of a woven fabric, is flexible, and can be bent, so that it can be used for a non-planar portion.

  The woven electrode of the invention of this application can be easily manufactured by a conventional weaving technique. Moreover, it can manufacture efficiently, without using special equipment. Furthermore, by adjusting the number of warp yarns and the length of the fabric, fabric-like electrodes of various sizes can be obtained.

  The invention of this application has the features as described above, and an embodiment thereof will be described below.

  The electrically insulating fiber used in the first invention of this application is not particularly limited as long as it is a yarn substantially made of electrically insulating fiber. For example, synthetic fibers such as polyester, polyamide, and acrylic, rayon, Examples include recycled fibers such as cupra, semi-synthetic fibers such as acetate, inorganic fibers such as glass fibers, and natural fibers such as cotton, hemp, and silk.

  In addition, the electrically conductive fiber used in the first invention of this application is not particularly limited as long as it is a thread made of a substance having substantially electrical conductivity and fiber, such as gold, copper, iron, Examples thereof include metals such as nickel and stainless steel, conductive inorganic fibers such as carbon fibers, fibers coated with a conductive material, and mixed fibers, entanglements, and twisted yarns of these and electrically insulating fibers. An electrically insulating material may be coated on the surface of these electrically conductive fibers.

  Examples of the conductive material coated on the fiber include gold, silver, copper, zinc, nickel, and alloys thereof. Examples of the film forming method for these substances include vapor deposition, sputtering, electroplating, and electroless plating.

  The fabric-like electrode of the invention of this application uses an electrically insulating fiber for one of the warp or the weft and an electrically conductive fiber for the other, or an electrically conductive fiber and an electrically insulating fiber at a predetermined ratio. One of the electrically conductive fibers is designed to be woven at a constant interval. At this time, the ratio of the electrically conductive fiber to the electrically insulating fiber is 1: 1, 1: 2, 1: 3, or the like. Moreover, although the space | interval of an electroconductive fiber is not specifically limited, 20 micrometers-500 micrometers are preferable.

  The woven fabric structure of the woven electrode is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include a plain structure, a twill structure, a satin structure, a cocoon structure, a heel structure, and a composite structure thereof. Further, a woven fabric structure or a bag woven structure having a multilayer structure in which two or more layers of these structures are stacked may be used.

  In the above-mentioned woven fabric, an electric field is formed when electric power is supplied to the electrically conductive fibers by connecting both ends of the woven electrically conductive fibers or one end according to the intended electric field strength. A woven electrode.

  For example, the attached FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating a woven fabric connected at both ends of the electrically conductive fiber (1) used for the weft, and these electrically conductive fibers are electrically connected to the power source (3). In this example, an electrically insulating fiber is used for the warp.

  Examples of the method for connecting the electrically conductive fibers include a method of sandwiching them with solder, welding and clips, and a method of weaving so that the electrically conductive fibers are connected.

  The second invention of this application is characterized by using a shrinkable yarn for the warp yarn or the weft yarn. The shrinkable yarn used is polyester, polyamide, polyvinyl chloride, etc. that shrinks by heat treatment, wool or animal hair that shrinks by shrinking treatment, and strong twisted yarn of various fibers that shrinks by relaxation treatment. In addition, silk that shrinks by salt shrinkage treatment, cotton that shrinks by alkali treatment, and polyurethane fibers that are elastic fibers having rubber-like elasticity can be mentioned.

  Examples of the yarn that shrinks by heat treatment include synthetic fibers such as polyester, polyamide, and polyvinyl chloride. If the main constituent elements are these synthetic fibers, other fibers such as rayon, acetate, and cotton may be mixed. In order to thermally shrink these synthetic fibers, dry heat treatment is performed at 100 ° C. or higher and 230 ° C. or lower or hydrothermal treatment is performed at 80 ° C. or higher and 140 ° C. or lower in an unstrained state. The treatment method and treatment temperature may be selected according to the material of the shrinkable yarn.

  Examples of the shrinkable yarn that contracts by the shrinking treatment include wool and animal hair. Examples of animal hair include cashmere, alpaca, mohair, and angora. If the main component is wool or animal hair, other fibers such as polyester, polyamide, acrylic, rayon, cotton and silk may be mixed. In order to contract these wool and animal hair by the contraction process, a dedicated contraction processing machine, for example, a washer type processing machine in which a rotating tank rotates in a water bath, is used. In the washer processing machine, the rotating tank may be rotated in a water bath having a bath ratio of 1: 100 or less and washed with rice.

  The strongly twisted yarn that shrinks by the relaxation treatment is a yarn that has been processed so as to shrink in a water bath, for example, a cotton yarn having a coefficient of 4.0 or more. Regarding the type of fiber, for example, polyester, polyamide, etc. Synthetic fibers, regenerated fibers such as rayon, semi-synthetic fibers such as acetate, and natural fibers such as cotton, silk, and wool are not particularly limited. In order to shrink these strong twisted yarns, a relaxation treatment may be performed in a water bath of 0 ° C. or higher and 100 ° C. or lower.

  Examples of the shrinkable yarn that shrinks by the salt shrinkage treatment include protein fibers such as silk and wool, and silk is preferable. If the main constituent fiber is a protein fiber, other fibers such as polyester, polyamide, rayon, acetate, and cotton may be mixed. In order to shrink these protein fibers, high temperature treatment with a neutral base aqueous solution such as high concentration calcium nitrate or calcium chloride may be performed. For example, it may be immersed in a calcium chloride aqueous solution having a specific gravity of about 1.45 heated to about 90 ° C. for a necessary time.

  Examples of the yarn that shrinks by alkali treatment include cellulose fibers such as cotton and hemp. And if a main component is a cellulose fiber, you may mix other fibers, such as polyester, polyamide, and silk. In order to shrink these yarns, the yarns may be immersed in an alkaline aqueous solution such as sodium hydroxide for a required time.

  Examples of elastic fibers that shrink due to rubber elasticity include polyurethane fibers. Further, other fibers such as polyester, polyamide, rayon, acetate, cotton, silk and the like may be mixed as long as they contain polyurethane fibers and have elasticity. In order to shrink these elastic yarns, no particular processing is required, and the elastic yarns shrink due to the elastic force of the yarn.

  The third invention of this application is characterized in that the electrically conductive fibers can be processed at an arbitrary distance by shrinking the above-mentioned shrinkable yarn of the woven fabric by a predetermined method.

  In the invention of this application, an electric field is formed by applying a voltage to the fabric-like electrode as described above, thereby realizing a filter function of the substance, and manipulation of molecules, cells, etc. by dielectrophoretic force Separation is possible.

  Here, the dielectrophoretic force is a force generated in the following phenomenon.

  When particles are placed in an electric field, they are polarized. The positive and negative charges generated by polarization attract the negative and positive charges of the electrode. In the case of a uniform electric field, the force that attracts the negative charge of the positive electrode and the particle is equal to the force that attracts the positive charge of the negative electrode and the particle, and the electric force of the particle without charge cancels out, so the particle does not move. . In the case of a non-uniform electric field, when the dielectric constant of the particle is greater than the dielectric constant of the surrounding medium, the force attracting the strong electric field electrode and the strong electric field side of the particle is greater than the attractive force of the weak electric field particle on the weak electric field electrode. As a result, the particles move to the strong electric field side.

  Further, when the dielectric constant of the particles is smaller than the dielectric constant of the surrounding medium, the particles move to the weak electric field side. The phenomenon in which particles move in a non-uniform electric field is called dielectrophoresis, and the force acting on the particles at this time is called dielectrophoretic force.

  A new electrode for realizing these functions is realized by the invention of this application.

  Therefore, an example will be shown below and will be described in more detail. Of course, the invention is not limited by the following examples.

(Example 1)
FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a fabric for the fabric electrode. A portion in FIG. 2 is a portion that becomes a woven electrode and has a flat structure. The electrically conductive fibers in part B in FIG. 2 are woven on or under the warp yarn alternately with the electrically conductive fibers 1 and 2.

Polyester yarn 83dtex [75d] of electrically insulating fiber is used as the warp yarn, and nickel wire having a fiber diameter of 0.10 mm of electrically conductive fiber is used as the weft yarn. A woven fabric as shown in FIG. 2 was woven. Note that the widths of the A part and the B part in FIG. 2 were set to 35 mm and 25 mm, respectively, and the fabric length was 4 cm.

In part B of FIG. 2 of the woven fabric, one side in the width direction connects the electrode conductive fibers woven on the warp yarn with solder, and the other side in the width direction is woven under the warp yarn. The electrically conductive fibers are connected with solder. Thereafter, the warp yarn in the portion B in FIG. The obtained woven electrode was flexible and could be bent.
(Example 2)
In this example, the same yarn and weaving method as in Example 1 were used, and a woven fabric of the same size as that in Example 1 was woven at a warp density of 9 yarns / cm and a weft yarn density of 64 yarns / cm. Electrically conductive fibers were connected.
(Example 3)
Polyester yarn 83dtex (75d) of electrode insulating fiber is used as the warp yarn, and nickel wire having a fiber diameter of 0.05 mm of electrically conductive fiber is used as the weft yarn. The warp yarn density is 9 yarns / cm and the weft yarn density is 55 yarns / cm. A woven electrode was produced by the same weaving method, size, and connection method as in Example 1.
Example 4
Polyester yarn 83dtex (75d) of electrically insulating fiber is used as the warp yarn, nickel wire having a fiber diameter of 0.10 mm of electrically conductive fiber is used as the weft yarn, and the warp density is 9 / cm and the weft density is 54 / cm. A woven fabric as shown in FIG. 3 was woven. The portion A in FIG. 2 is a portion that becomes a woven electrode and is woven in a twill structure. The electrically conductive fibers in part B in FIG. 3 are woven on or under the warp yarn alternately with the electrically conductive fibers 1 and 2. Note that the widths of the A part and the B part in FIG. 3 were set to 35 mm and 25 mm, respectively, and the fabric length was 4 cm. The connection method was the same as in Example 1.

It is a plan view of a woven electrode when using electrically insulating fibers for the warp and electrically conductive fibers for the weft. It is one Example of the textile fabric for textile-like electrodes when using electrically insulating fiber for warp and using electrically conductive fiber for weft. A portion to be a woven electrode is woven in a plain structure. It is one Example of the textile fabric for textile-like electrodes when using electrically insulating fiber for warp and using electrically conductive fiber for weft. A portion that becomes a woven electrode is woven in a twill structure.

Claims (5)

  It is an electrode composed of a fabric in which an electrically conductive fiber is woven into at least a part of the fabric of an electrically insulating fiber, and an electric field is formed by supplying electric power to the electrically conductive fiber. Characteristic woven electrode.   2. The woven electrode according to claim 1, wherein the woven electrode is made of a woven fabric in which electrically conductive fibers are woven by using shrinkable yarns.   3. The woven electrode according to claim 2, wherein the woven electrode is made of a woven fabric in which the electrically conductive fibers are processed at an arbitrary distance by shrinking the shrinkable yarn by a predetermined method.   4. The woven electrode according to claim 1, wherein a specific substance is separable from other substances by supplying electric power to the electrically conductive fibers to form an electric field. A material filter device comprising the woven electrode according to claim 4.