The design and fabrication of autonomous polymer-based surface tension-confined microfluidic platforms

Abstract

A one-step thick film printing process has been established for patterning hydrophobic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) substrate materials with hydrophilic cellulose acetate. The opposing patterned substrate materials are brought within close proximity utilizing spacer material of defined thickness. The parallel-plate configured devices are capable of supporting autonomous fluid transport through capillarity. Minimum attainable path widths of 313.3 ± 17.9 lm can be achieved utilizing an affordable personal printer for photomask generation. In addition, a theoretical model for this system predicting meniscus position as a function of time and system architecture is posed along with experimental data which is found to be in good agreement with the model. Lastly, the curvature of the surface is approximated and exploited for the determination of the true pressure jump across the curved surface at the gas-liquid interface at all points on a discretized surface. The curvature associated pressure jump results are found to be consistent with the Laplace pressure approximation.

Selectively modified microfluidic chip for solvent extraction of Radix Salvia Miltiorrhiza using three-phase laminar flow to provide double liquid–liquid interface area

“…Since the different phases have diverse interfacial forces to the channel walls, one of these phases would preferentially wet the boundaries and form discontinuous flow of droplets of other phases (Shui et al 2007). Surface modification is a versatile approach for various applications in microfluidic chip (Swickrath et al 2008;Woolford et al 2009;Zhou et al 2009;Wong and Ho 2009). The modification to partial channel, herein, is essential to generate a stable interface of aqueous and organic streams.…”

Recent advances in nonbiofouling PDMS surface modification strategies applicable to microfluidic technology

“…Consequently, polymer based fabrication and prototyping have gained attention in the last two decades to alleviate these problems and make microfabrication a cheaper and more accessible technology 10–13 . Commonly used polymers include poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) 14–21 , cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) 22 , poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) 22–25 , polycarbonate (PC) 23,26,27 , polypropylene (PP) 27 , polystyrene (PS) 27 , polyvinylchloride (PVC) 28 , perflouropolyether (PFPE) 29 , polyurethane 30 , poly(ethyleneterephthalate) (PET) 30 and polyester 30 . Techniques commonly utilized for manufacturing polymer microfluidic devices which include replica molding 31 , hot embossing 32 , injection molding 12 , and laser ablation 10 , are reviewed by Becker et al 33 .…”

Microfluidic devices easily created using an office inkjet printer

“…Although the above channels are pipes normally having a rectangular cross section, another type of channel called a ''surface-directed channel'' has also been reported (Oh 1999;Lam et al 2002;Zhao et al 2002;Bouaidat et al 2005;Lee et al 2006;West et al 2007;Watanabe 2006Watanabe , 2007Watanabe , 2008Suk and Cho 2007;Sridharamurthy and Jiang 2007;Swickrath et al 2008Swickrath et al , 2009Yang et al 2009;Watanabe 2009a, b). While this type of channel is neither a pipe nor a groove, it can confine aqueous fluids in a narrow hydrophilic region created on a hydrophobic surface.…”