A Directly Moldable, Highly Compact, and Easy-for-Integration 3D Micromixer with Extraordinary Mixing Performance

Micromixers are a critical component in microfluidics. However, most 2D passive micromixers produce optimal mixing at a high flow rate range and 3D micromixers require mm-scale channels or a complex assembly that is unsuitable for microfluidic applications. Here, we reported a 3D PDMS micromixer based on the splitting-stretching-recombination (SSR) of streams to facilitate molecular diffusion, which can effectively and rapidly mix solutions with low Reynolds numbers (0.01-10). The fabrication of our micromixer is convenient with only two steps─two-photon polymerization (2PP) 3D printing and soft lithography, with high resolution, reproducibility, and ease for integration. We investigated the mixing performance of the micromixer by CFD simulations and experimental studies under a confocal microscope; the results confirmed its better performance and higher chip miniaturization than others. It can achieve a mixing efficiency above 0.90 (which is generally regarded as complete mixing) for low-Re solutions (flow rates ≤60 μL/min) with a mixing volume smaller than 20 nL. The time for complete mixing is in the range of milliseconds (e.g., 21 ms for Re = 10, 194 ms for Re = 0.88). The device shows negligible degradation in mixing performance for highly viscous solutions (∼50 times more viscous than water), macromolecule solutions, and colloidal solutions of nanoparticles.