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3D printed self-supporting elastomeric structures for multifunctional microfluidics.

Ruitao Su¹, Jiaxuan Wen², Qun Su²

¹Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.

Science Advances

|October 10, 2020

Summary

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This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers developed a novel 3D printing method for self-supporting microfluidic devices using viscoelastic inks. This technique avoids sacrificial materials and enables automated fabrication of complex microfluidic systems.

Area of Science:

Materials Science
Engineering
Biotechnology

Background:

Microfluidic devices are crucial for lab-on-a-chip diagnostics, DNA microarrays, and cell-based assays.
Current fabrication methods face limitations with substrate contamination and lack of integration with electronics or curvilinear substrates.
Improved automation is needed for higher throughput in microfluidic applications.

Purpose of the Study:

To present a new additive manufacturing technique for fabricating self-supporting microfluidic devices.
To demonstrate a method that avoids sacrificial materials and substrate contamination.
To enable the automated fabrication of complex and multifunctional microfluidic systems.

Main Methods:

Precisely extruding viscoelastic silicone inks into self-supporting microchannels and chambers.

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Microfluidic Chips Controlled with Elastomeric Microvalve Arrays

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Utilizing the ink's yield strength to prevent creep in the submillimeter regime.

Designing specific printing toolpaths for leakage-free connections, T-shaped intersections, and overlapping channels.

Main Results:

Successfully fabricated self-supporting microfluidic structures without sacrificial materials.
Demonstrated the ability to create leakage-free connections and complex channel geometries.
Validated the ink's yield strength for structural integrity in microchannels.

Conclusions:

The novel printing methodology enables automatable fabrication of advanced microfluidic devices.
This technique overcomes limitations of current additive manufacturing methods for microfluidics.
The self-supporting structures facilitate the creation of multifunctional devices like mixers, sensors, and 3D microfluidics.