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• Research Progress on Materials And Processing Methods of Microfluidic Chips

Materials of Microfluidic Chips

Until now, a variety of materials have been developed to meet different requirements of microfluidic chip fabrication. Silicon and glass are the original materials first used for microfluidic chip fabrication. While they are replaced with some new materials such as elastomer materials, paper materials, thermoplastic polymers, thermoset polymers, and hydrogel materials due to their high cost and difficult processing.

Fig. 1 Biomaterials are also optional choices for microfluidic chip design. (Cao, et al., 2023)

Principles for selecting materials for microfluidic chips:

• Good biocompatibility between the chip material and the working medium of the chip laboratory, and no reaction occurs
• Good electrical insulation and heat dissipation
• Good modifiable properties and can produce electroosmotic flow or immobilize biological macromolecules
• Good optical performance, with little or no interference to the detection signal
• Simple fabrication process of the chip and low-cost materials.

Processing Method of Chip

• Micro-Molding

PDMS-based micro-molding has become the most commonly used microfluidic chip processing method. One of the common ones is to use SU-8 photoresist as a mold to mold PDMS.

• Laser Ablation

Laser ablation specifically refers to a method of ablating and processing micro flow channels on the surface of a polymer material by using a carbon dioxide laser with a wavelength of 10.6 μm. This method is widely used for processing micro flow channels on the surface of the majority of polymer and glass materials with the advantages of simple, fast, and one-time ablation. The disadvantages of the method include: 1) the inner wall of the microchannel processed on the surface of the polymer material is not flat, 2) there are a lot of bubbles, which may need to be processed by chemical methods.

• 2D/3D Printing

2D/3D printing refers to a method for processing a microfluidic chip or a microfluidic chip pour-back mold. Stereo-lithography and fused deposition modeling (FDM) are the main two methods of using 3D printing to process microfluidic chips.

Fig.2 Microfluidic chip based on screen-printing. (Gao, 2020)

• Injection Molding

Injection molding is a widely used processing method in the area of plastic processing. PMMA, COC, and PDMS are the commonly used injection materials in microfluidic chips.

• Bonding Technology

Bonding refers to the technology of flow channel closure with a layer of material after the microstructure processing is completed. Various low-cost microfluidic chip bonding methods have developed in recent years, mainly including thermal compression bonding, plasma surface treatment, adhesive bonding, and laser welding.

Fig.3 Common microfluidic chip bonding methods. (Gao, 2020)

• Thermal Compression Bonding

The thermal compression bonding method in microfluidic chips is based on PMMA, PC, PS, glass, and other thermoplastic materials.

Services at Creative Biolabs

With decades of experience in the development of microfluidic chip development, Creative Biolabs is confident in offering a wide range of high-quality microfluidic chip development services. Our in-home scientists are dedicated to providing an optimal microfluidic chip solution to meet your requirements for a project. If you are interested in our services, please contact us to discuss your project.

References

1. Cao, Zhang, et al. " Microfluidic Organ-on-A-chip: A Guide to Biomaterial Choice and Fabrication." International Journal of Molecular Sciences 24.4 (2023): 3232.
2. Gao, Yan, et al. " Application of Microfluidic Chip Technology in Food Safety Sensing." Sensors 20.6 (2020): 1792.

For Research Use Only. Not For Clinical Use.