Optically Driven Mobile Integrated Micro-Tools for a Lab-on-a-Chip

Abstract

This study proposes an optically driven complex micromachine with an Archimedes microscrew as the mechanical power, a sphere as a coupler, and three knives as the mechanical tools. The micromachine is fabricated by two-photon polymerization and is portably driven by optical tweezers. Because the microscrew can be optically trapped and rotates spontaneously, it provides driving power for the complex micro-tools. In other words, when a laser beam focuses on the micromachine, the microscrew is trapped toward the focus point and simultaneously rotates. A demonstration showed that the integrated micromachines are grasped by the optical tweezers and rotated by the Archimedes screw. The rotation efficiencies of the microrotors with and without knives are 1.9 rpm/mW and 13.5 rpm/mW, respectively. The micromachine can also be portably dragged along planed routes. Such Archimedes screw-based optically driven complex mechanical micro-tools enable rotation similar to moving machines or mixers, which could contribute to applications for a biological microfluidic chip or a lab-on-a-chip

Alleviating Distortion and Improving the Young’s Modulus in Two-Photon Polymerization Fabrications

“…Currently most of the works on TPP have been dedicated to developing the technique [10,11,12,13] and applying the technique to fabricate complex shaped microstructures [14,15,16], micro-machineries [17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25], micro/opto/electro-fluidic systems [26,27], and scaffolds for tissue engineering [28,29]. It has been demonstrated that a proper scaffold design and material stiffness can lead mesenchymal stem cells without osteogenic stimulation to differentiate towards osteogenic lineage [29].…”

Nano‐Optical Tweezers: Methods and Applications for Trapping Single Molecules and Nanoparticles

“…Optical tweezers can also be used to operate micromachines and have been shown to be capable of operating microscopic gears, rotors, levers, and motors among others. [24,[102][103][104] Mushfique et al demonstrated the use of optical tweezers for the operation of a pump in microfluidic channels while simultaneously using a holographic optical tweezer to measure the resulting fluid flow. [105] Experiments such as these demonstrate the potential of optical tweezers to drive and control entire lab-on-a-chip devices.…”

Microstructures Fabricated by Two‐Photon Polymerization and Their Remote Manipulation Techniques: Toward 3D Printing of Micromachines

“…Furthermore, they also created a propeller that is able to rotate in a reserve direction if the relative position between optical focus and the propeller is changed . Liu et al also applied Archimedes microscrew as a driven tool for the microrotor ( Figure ) . In this study, when the microscrew was trapped and rotated using optical tweezer, the connected blades were driven together with a high efficiency of 1.9 rpm mW −1 .…”

“…b) Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image for the as‐prepared micromachine. Adapted with permission . Copyright 2013, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI).…”