A one-step strategy for ultra-fast and low-cost mass production of plastic membrane microfluidic chips
A one-step strategy for ultra-fast and low-cost mass production of plastic membrane microfluidic chips
复制标题
塑料膜微流控芯片超快速低成本量产的一步策略
DOI：
10.1039/c6lc00957c
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发表时间：
2016-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
6.1
通讯作者：
Ren, Kangning
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hu, Chong;Lin, Sheng;Ren, Kangning
开发了一种超快速、极具成本效益且环境友好的方法，用于制造具有塑料膜的柔性微流控芯片。通过这种方法，我们可以以极低的成本（每件不到0.02美元）快速制造塑料微流控芯片（每件12秒内）。我们使用加热的全氟聚合物全氟烷氧基（通常称为Teflon PFA）固体印模来压制一堆两片塑料膜，低密度聚乙烯（LDPE）和聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET），涂有乙烯-乙酸乙烯酯共聚物（伊娃）。在与加热的PFA印模接触的短时间内，膜的受压区域永久结合，而LDPE膜在未受压区域自发地上升，自动形成微通道。这两个区域即使在微米尺度下也可以清楚地区分，因此我们能够制造宽度低至50微米的微通道。该方法将微通道制造的常规策略中的两个步骤（生成微通道和密封通道）组合成单个步骤。生产过程是一种绿色工艺，不使用任何溶剂，不产生任何废弃物。此外，芯片显示出对罗丹明6G、寡核苷酸和绿色荧光蛋白（GFP）的吸收的良好抗性。我们展示了一些典型的微流控操作与柔性塑料膜芯片，包括液滴形成，芯片上的毛细管电泳，和蠕动泵定量注射样品和试剂。此外，我们展示了方便的芯片上检测水样中的铅离子的泵送设计，作为一个例子，在资源有限的环境中的塑料膜芯片的应用。由于这种一步法的高速度和低成本的制造工艺，将有利于微流控芯片的大规模生产和微流控技术的商业化。
An ultra-fast, extremely cost-effective, and environmentally friendly method was developed for fabricating flexible microfluidic chips with plastic membranes. With this method, we could fabricate plastic microfluidic chips rapidly (within 12 seconds per piece) at an extremely low cost (less than $0.02 per piece). We used a heated perfluoropolymer perfluoroalkoxy (often called Teflon PFA) solid stamp to press a pile of two pieces of plastic membranes, low density polyethylene (LDPE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) coated with an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA). During the short period of contact with the heated PFA stamp, the pressed area of the membranes permanently bonded, while the LDPE membrane spontaneously rose up at the area not pressed, forming microchannels automatically. These two regions were clearly distinguishable even at the micrometer scale so we were able to fabricate microchannels with widths down to 50 microns. This method combines the two steps in the conventional strategy for microchannel fabrication, generating microchannels and sealing channels, into a single step. The production is a green process without using any solvent or generating any waste. Also, the chips showed good resistance against the absorption of Rhodamine 6G, oligonucleotides, and green fluorescent protein (GFP). We demonstrated some typical microfluidic manipulations with the flexible plastic membrane chips, including droplet formation, on-chip capillary electrophoresis, and peristaltic pumping for quantitative injection of samples and reagents. In addition, we demonstrated convenient on-chip detection of lead ions in water samples by a peristaltic-pumping design, as an example of the application of the plastic membrane chips in a resource-limited environment. Due to the high speed and low cost of the fabrication process, this single-step method will facilitate the mass production of microfluidic chips and commercialization of microfluidic technologies.