An Aluminum Microfluidic Chip Fabrication Using a Convenient Micromilling Process for Fluorescent Poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) Microparticle Generation

Abstract

This study presents the development of a robust aluminum-based microfluidic chip fabricated by conventional mechanical micromachining (computer numerical control-based micro-milling process). It applied the aluminum-based microfluidic chip to form poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microparticles encapsulating CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs). A cross-flow design and flow-focusing system were employed to control the oil-in-water (o/w) emulsification to ensure the generation of uniformly-sized droplets. The size of the droplets could be tuned by adjusting the flow rates of the water and oil phases. The proposed microfluidic platform is easy to fabricate, set up, organize as well as program, and is valuable for further applications under harsh reaction conditions (high temperature and/or strong organic solvent systems). The proposed method has the advantages of actively controlling the droplet diameter, with a narrow size distribution, good sphericity, as well as being a simple process with a high throughput. In addition to the fluorescent PLGA microparticles in this study, this approach can also be applied to many applications in the pharmaceutical and biomedical area.

Microfluidic assisted synthesis of PLGA drug delivery systems

“…They achieved the varying size of MPs and core numbers (one, double and triple cores in one shell) with various orice size and uid ow rates. Results illustrated that increase in the shell thickness (22,40, and 60 mm) leads to higher encapsulation efficiency of CPT ($46, 57 and 61%) and DOX hydrochloride (85, 89 and 93%) and higher drug content (4.06 AE 0.02, 6.17 AE 0.15 and 6.88 AE 0.24). In vitro evaluation with human colon cancer cell line (HCT116) ( Fig.…”

“…The advantages and disadvantages of microfluidics for synthesis 3,13,22,23 microreactors for nanomaterial production. In the current section, we will provide a brief description of the rules of thumb and principles of droplet generation.…”

Applications of Microfluidics in Stem Cell Biology

“…Step 1 to 4 can be repeated to fabricate another layer of features, which ends up with a 3D hierarchy structure with different heights or chemical compositions. Alternatively, micro-milling can be used to direct write the pattern on a wide range of hard materials [17]. …”

Design and Fabrication of a Microfluidic Device for Synthesis of Chitosan Nanoparticles

“…and mold-based techniques (hot embossing, injection molding, or softlithography) [14]. Photolithography has good ability to manufacture very small and complicated microchannel structures, but it usually involves multistep processes which take considerable time, specific chemical requirements especially for etching steps, and more importantly it requires high tech facilities in a cleanroom environment.…”