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Print-and-peel fabricated passive micromixers
Marlon S Thomas1, Joseph M Clift, Brent Millare
1Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Riverside, California 92521, USA.
Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids
|December 17, 2009
Summary
Print-and-peel fabrication enables rapid prototyping of passive micromixers for microfluidic devices. These devices effectively enhance advection-driven mixing through channel design, improving fluid homogenization.
Area of Science:
- Microfluidics
- Fluid Dynamics
- Materials Science
Background:
- Advection-driven mixing is crucial in microfluidics but challenging to implement.
- Traditional methods for disrupting laminar flow include active (force transducers) or passive (complex channels) approaches.
- Nonlithographic fabrication techniques offer simpler alternatives for microdevice creation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the efficacy of print-and-peel (PAP) fabrication for creating passive micromixers.
- To evaluate the mixing performance of PAP-fabricated microfluidic devices with varying channel geometries.
- To explore the influence of channel turns and expansions on advection-driven mixing at low Reynolds numbers.
Main Methods:
- Utilized print-and-peel (PAP) for fabricating microfluidic devices.
- Designed microchannels with features for turning, expanding, and contracting microflows.
- Tested mixing performance under low Reynolds numbers (0.2-20) and high Peclet numbers (260-26,000).
- Focused on arched channel designs to analyze mixing enhancement.
Main Results:
- PAP fabrication proved effective for creating microfluidic devices.
- Three-dimensional expansions and contractions significantly improved mixing quality.
- Increased channel twisting enhanced the homogenization of laminar microflows.
- Mixing performance correlated positively with channel complexity and geometric variations.
Conclusions:
- Print-and-peel is a facile and expedient method for fabricating passive micromixers.
- Geometric modifications like 3D expansion, contraction, and twisting are effective strategies for enhancing advection-driven mixing.
- PAP offers an attractive alternative for rapid prototyping of microfluidic devices without specialized facilities.
