Campus Units

Materials Science and Engineering

Document Type

Article

Publication Version

Published Version

Publication Date

1-2017

Journal or Book Title

Biomicrofluidics

Volume

11

Issue

1

First Page

014104

DOI

10.1063/1.4974013

Abstract

We report a simple, efficient, one-step, affordable method to produce open-channel paper-based microfluidic channels. One surface of a sheet of paper is selectively calendared, with concomitant hydrophobization, to create the microfluidic channel. Our method involves asymmetric mechanical modification of a paper surface using a rolling ball (ball-point pen) under a controlled amount of applied stress (σz) to ascertain that only one side is modified. A lubricating solvent (hexane) aids in the selective deformation. The lubricant also serves as a carrier for a perfluoroalkyl trichlorosilane allowing the channel to be made hydrophobic as it is formed. For brevity and clarity, we abbreviated this method as TACH (Targeted Asymmetric Calendaring and Hydrophobization). We demonstrate that TACH can be used to reliably produce channels of variable widths (size of the ball) and depths (number of passes), without affecting the nonworking surface of the paper. Using tomography, we demonstrate that these channels can vary from 10s to 100s of microns in diameter. The created hydrophobic barrier extends around the channel through wicking to ensure no leakages. We demonstrate, through modeling and fabrication, that flow properties of the resulting channels are analogous to conventional devices and are tunable based on associated dimensionless numbers.

Comments

This article is published as Oyola-Reynoso, S., C. Frankiewicz, B. Chang, J. Chen, J-F. Bloch, and M. M. Thuo. "based microfluidic devices by asymmetric calendaring." Biomicrofluidics 11, no. 1 (2017): 014104, doi:10.1063/1.4974013. Posted with permission.

Copyright Owner

The Authors

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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