Applications of Modular Microfluidics Technology

Fan, Yiqiang; Wang, Hongliang; Gao, Kexin; Liu, Jingji; Chai, Dongping; Zhang, Yajun

doi:10.1016/s1872-2040(18)61126-0

Cited by 42 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 55 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In combination with Fluoroflex's straightforward and transferrable thermoplastic fabrication method, a modular device platform gives scope for the development of the large‐scale industrialization of standardized microfluidic devices both in terms of device production and ease of use. [ 90 ]…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self‐sealing thermoplastic fluoroelastomer enables rapid fabrication of modular microreactors

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A novel fluorinated soft thermoplastic elastomer (sTPE) for microfluidics is presented. It allows the rapid fabrication of microfluidic devices through a 30‐second hot embossing cycle at 220°C followed by self‐sealing through simple conformal contact at room temperature, or with baking. The material shows high chemical resistance, particularly in comparison to polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), to many common organic solvents and can be rapidly micropatterned with high fidelity using a variety of microfluidic master molds thanks to its low mechanical stiffness. Self‐sealing of the material is reversible and withstands pressures of up to 2.8 bar with room temperature sealing and four bar with baking at 185°C for 2 hours. The elastomeric, transparent sTPE exhibits material characteristics that make it suited for use as a microreactor, such as low absorption, surface roughness and oxygen permeability, while also allowing a facile and scalable fabrication process. Modular microfluidic devices, leveraging the fast and reversible room temperature self‐sealing, are demonstrated for the generation of water droplets in a toluene continuous phase using T‐junctions of variable size. The sTPE offers an alternative to common microfluidic materials, overcoming some of their key drawbacks, and giving scope for low‐cost and high‐throughput devices for flow chemistry applications.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self‐sealing thermoplastic fluoroelastomer enables rapid fabrication of modular microreactors

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, modularising glass microfluidic devices have the potential to solve these limitations through the massive production of simple modular devices. Also, yet, the study of modular microfluidics is still in an early stage, and no research related to the glass modular microfluidic system has been reported [13]. A major reason causing this situation is difficulty in the module-module and module-jig connections.…”

Section: Investigation Of Correlation Between Applied Force and Pressurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the conventional vertical connection method leads to a significant pressure drop at the 90-degree corner of the inlet structure ( Fig. 1), which affects negatively on increase of flow velocity [12,13]. Applying more pressure to achieve faster flow velocity is possible, however, it increases the risk of device failure at the ports of vertical connection.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, the modularisation of microfluidic devices has also been strongly influenced by the connection method. The concept of modular microfluidics enables the future development of the standardised microfluidics systems and also provides a promising approach for the industrial massive production of microfluidics [13]. Although fabrication of microfluidic devices has been investigated with various materials, fabrication methods and interface technologies still have challenges such as modular interface and connection method to restrict the further development of microfluidics.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Horizontal connection method for glass microfluidic devices

Yalikun

Ota

et al. 2020

Micro & Nano Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In a conventional glass microfluidic system, the vertical connection is the most frequently used for connections between a microfluidic device and its peripheral equipment. However, it leads to a significant pressure drop at the inlet of a microfluidic device, decreases the flow velocity, and can introduce few samples than expected. To overcome these problems, a horizontal connection method for glass microfluidic devices, which have advantages such as keeping pressure/flow velocity, compatible with small space, reduced sample loss and convenience for modularisation is reported. These advantages are important for high-speed analysis on precious samples such as single-cell flow cytometry. In this work, they proposed a horizontal connection method which showed compatibility with high pressure (at least 0.6 MPa) at inlet without leakage, small loss of injected samples (<0.11%), and 22% faster flow velocity along the direction of applied pressure than that of vertical connection.

show abstract

“…Microfluidics, the science and technology of manipulating fluids at micro to millilitre scale through internal features, has been applied in various applications such as point-of-care diagnostic tools, therapeutic devices, and air and water quality monitoring methods [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Currently, popular manufacturing techniques for producing microfluidic devices include soft lithography [ 7 ], paper microfluidics [ 8 , 9 ], micromachining [ 10 ], injection moulding [ 11 ], hydrid paper based open channel microfluidics [ 12 ], etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of Microchannels Fabricated Using Desktop Fused Deposition Modeling Systems

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Microfluidic devices are used to transfer small quantities of liquid through micro-scale channels. Conventionally, these devices are fabricated using techniques such as soft-lithography, paper microfluidics, micromachining, injection moulding, etc. The advancement in modern additive manufacturing methods is making three dimensional printing (3DP) a promising platform for the fabrication of microfluidic devices. Particularly, the availability of low-cost desktop 3D printers can produce inexpensive microfluidic devices in fast turnaround times. In this paper, we explore fused deposition modelling (FDM) to print non-transparent and closed internal micro features of in-plane microchannels (i.e., linear, curved and spiral channel profiles) and varying cross-section microchannels in the build direction (i.e., helical microchannel). The study provides a comparison of the minimum possible diameter size, the maximum possible fluid flow-rate without leakage, and absorption through the straight, curved, spiral and helical microchannels along with the printing accuracy of the FDM process for two low-cost desktop printers. Moreover, we highlight the geometry dependent printing issues of microchannels, pressure developed in the microchannels for complex geometry and establish that the profiles in which flowrate generates 4000 Pa are susceptible to leakages when no pre or post processing in the FDM printed parts is employed.

show abstract

Applications of Modular Microfluidics Technology

Cited by 42 publications

References 55 publications

Self‐sealing thermoplastic fluoroelastomer enables rapid fabrication of modular microreactors

Self‐sealing thermoplastic fluoroelastomer enables rapid fabrication of modular microreactors

Horizontal connection method for glass microfluidic devices

Study of Microchannels Fabricated Using Desktop Fused Deposition Modeling Systems

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About