Application of membrane technology in microfluidic devices

This thesis describes the application of membrane technology in microfluidic systems. The word ‘microfluidic’ refers to the research field that develops methods and devices to control, manipulate, and analyze flows in sub‐millimeter dimensions. General advantages of this miniaturization strategy include savings in time, space, materials and/or cost, together with increased performance. Microfluidics is expected to revolutionize chemistry and biology, just as microelectronics has revolutionized information technology in the previous century. A trend in the field is to integrate multiple unit operations in a single device. Many of these operations, such as prefiltration, separation or contacting, can be carried out by membranes. Additionally, in the field of membrane technology, a lot of knowledge and experience is available on topics that are also covered by the field of microfluidics, including: interaction of materials, materials processing, sealing, mass transport, and module design. The main aim of this thesis is to bridge both fields and show new opportunities. The content therefore is of a conceptual and explorative nature.