玻璃微流控芯片廉价快速制作方法的研究

研究了一种玻璃微流控芯片的快速、低成本制作工艺和方法. 该方法采用商品化的显微载玻片(soda-lime玻璃)作为芯片基质材料, 利用AZ 4620光刻胶代替传统工艺中的溅射金属层或多晶硅/氮化硅层作为玻璃刻蚀的掩膜层, 同时利用一种紫外光学胶键合方法代替传统熔融键合方法实现芯片的键合, 整个工艺对玻璃基质材料要求低, 普通微流控芯片(深度小于50 μm)制作流程仅需约3.5 h, 可降低制作成本, 缩短制作周期. 还系统地研究了光刻胶厚度、光刻胶硬烘时间和玻璃腐蚀液配比对玻璃微流控芯片制作的影响, 获得了优化的工艺参数.     

基于微流体脉冲驱动控制技术的电化学微流控芯片制备方法

基于微流体脉冲驱动控制技术搭建了电化学微流控芯片的制备系统.首先将纳米银墨水和甘油溶液分别微喷射到玻璃基底表面形成微电极图形和微流道液体阳模图形;然后分别进行烧结和聚二甲基硅氧烷(PDMS)模塑工艺制得微电极和微流道;最后将微电极和微流道键合形成电化学微流控芯片.研究了系统参量对液滴产生的影响以及液滴直径和重叠率对液滴成线的影响,制得的微电极最小线宽为45 μm、厚度为2.2 μm、电阻率为5.2 μΩ·cm,制得的微流道最小线宽为35 μm,流道表面光滑.采用制得的电化学微流控芯片进行了葡萄糖浓度的电化学流动检测.结果表明,葡萄糖溶液的浓度与响应电流具有较高的线性关系,可对一定浓度范围内的葡萄糖溶液进行定量检测.基于微流体脉冲驱动控制技术的电化学微流控芯片制备方法具有微喷射精度高、重复性好,制备系统结构简单、成本低廉等优点,可用于生化分析、生物传感器等领域的芯片制备.     

玻璃基质微流控芯片的室温键合技术

芯片键合是微流控芯片加工的一个重要步骤.目前玻璃芯片的键合多采用高温键合技术(500~650℃).     

流动聚焦型微流控体系中的液滴的图案化排列和转变模式

流体在微流通道中形成剪切流场（低雷诺数）．不同于宏观体系,由于剪切力和表面张力的竞争作用,产生的液滴在微尺度下的微流通道中形成特殊的排列现象---周期性类似“晶格”排列现象．设计了新型流动聚焦型微流控芯片,分析研究在微流体系中液滴周期性图案化排列和转变机理性,液滴排列模式受两方面因素影响：水油两相的流速比值和微通道尺寸．当微通道宽度为250或300 μm时,液滴形成单层分散,双层和单层挤压排列．当微通道宽度为350 μm 时,液滴会形成单层分散到三层排列到双层挤压最后到单层挤压排列．当出口通道宽度增加到400 μm时,甚至出现了液滴四层排列的现象．同时研究了各个液滴排列模式的“转变点”.     

一种玻璃微流控芯片的制作方法研究

研究了以ITO膜为掩膜的玻璃微芯片的制作方法和玻璃-玻璃键合技术,并详细讨论了腐蚀条件对掩膜的性能、玻璃的蚀刻速率和微通道表面形貌的影响.总结出了该制作方法与传统玻璃芯片的制作方法相比具有的特点和优势.开发出了一种成本低且简易的玻璃芯片制作方法.     

聚二甲基硅氧烷微流控芯片的紫外光照射表面处理研究

研究了紫外光化学表面改性对聚二甲基硅氧烷(PDMS)微流控芯片的片基间粘接力及毛细管通道电渗流性能的影响.PDMS片基经紫外光射照后,粘接力增强,可实现PDMS芯片的永久性封合,同时亲水性得到改善,通道中的电渗流增大.与文献报道的等离子体表面处理方法比较,采用紫外光表面处理,设备简单,操作方便,耗费少,是一种简单易行的聚二甲基硅氧烷芯片表面处理方法.     

聚二甲基硅氧烷芯片粘接强度的实验研究

聚二甲基硅氧烷(PDMS)材料广泛地应用于制作微流控芯片.本文研究了PDMS预聚体与固化剂的配比、固化温度和固化时间、固化模具以及紫外光照射等重要因素对PDMS芯片封接强度的影响,得到PDMS芯片封接的最佳条件为:基片和盖片所用PDMS预聚体与固化剂的最佳质量配比为10∶1,最佳固化温度为75℃,固化时间为40 min;采用不同材料模具制作PDMS片,其表面均方根粗糙度控制着芯片的粘接强度.在研究的三种模具材料中,用有机玻璃模具制作的PDMS片间的粘接强度最高,用玻璃模具制作的PDMS片间粘接强度最小;PDMS片经紫外光照射表面处理后,粘接强度会增加.     

用于细胞排列的介电泳微流控芯片制备与实验研究

设计并制作了一种应用于细胞排列的介电泳微流控芯片,以实现细胞的非接触、批量排列。芯片主要包括PDMS微通道和“台阶”形ITO微电极。运用仿真软件COMSOL分析了微电极所形成的电场分布,确定了最大电场强度的位置;利用MEMS加工工艺制备了ITO微电极和PDMS微通道,PDMS微通道与带有ITO电极的载玻片经过氧等离子表面处理后,对准键合获得最终的微流控芯片。通过不同频率下的介电泳实验,实现了酵母菌细胞的介电泳运动,并确定了正、负介电泳运动的电场频率。结果表明,酵母菌细胞在溶液电导率为60μS/cm的环境下,1~10 kHz时,发生负介电泳运动;0.5~10 MHz时,发生正介电泳运动;50 kHz时,没有发生介电泳运动。并在施加8 Vp-p,5 MHz交流电压信号的条件下,实现了酵母菌细胞沿“台阶”形电极边缘直线排列。     

功能化PDMS芯片的制作及其在氨基酸电泳分离中的应用

PDMS芯片表面具有强疏水性,不仅使水溶液很难充满其管道,电渗流不易控制~([1～3]),而且由于生物分子在其表面的强烈吸附还会导致芯片受污染,这些问题影响了PDMS在微流控中的应用.因此,PDMS芯片表面修饰已成为微全分析研究的热点之一.     

聚二甲基硅氧烷-聚苯乙烯复合微流控芯片室温不可逆封合法的研究

研究了一种基于紫外光/臭氧(UV/O₃)表面改性和硅烷化技术的聚二甲基硅氧烷(PDMS)与聚苯乙烯(PS)的不可逆封合的新方法. 首先, 用UV/O₃处理PS使其表面产生羟基、羧基等极性基团; 然后用3-氨丙基三乙氧基硅烷(APTES)对UV/O₃处理后的PS硅烷化, 使其表面形成氨丙基硅分子链; 再将硅烷化后的PS与拟封合的PDMS同时用UV/O₃处理, 使两者表面均产生硅羟基. 最后将处理后的PDMS与PS贴合, 通过硅羟基之间的缩合实现两者的不可逆封合. 以接触角、XPS和ATR-FT-IR对封合过程进行表征. 封合的PDMS-PS复合芯片可承受大于0.5 MPa的压强. 采用该方法制备了PDMS-PS复合微流控芯片用于HeLa细胞的培养. 实验表明, HeLa细胞在PDMS-PS复合芯片通道内的生长状况大大优于在全PS芯片、略好于在全PDMS芯片内的生长状况.     

Spontaneous generation of emulsion droplets by autonomous fluid-pumping using the gas permeability of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)

Conventional droplet-based microfluidic systems require expensive, bulky external apparatuses, such as electric power supplies and pressure-driven pumps for fluid transportation. This study demonstrates an alternative way to produce emulsion droplets by autonomous fluid-handling based on the gas permeability of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). Furthermore, basic concepts of fluid-handling are expanded to control the direction of the microfluid in the microfluidic device. The alternative pumping energy resulting from the high gas permeability of PDMS is used to generate water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions, which require no additional structures apart from microchannels. We can produce emulsion droplets by simple loading of the oil and aqueous solutions into the inlet reservoirs. During the operation of the microfluidic device, changes in droplet size, volumetric flow rate, and droplet generation frequency were quantitatively analyzed. As a result, we found that changes in the wetting properties of the microchannel greatly influence the volumetric flow rate and droplet generation frequency. This alternative microfluidic approach for preparing emulsion droplets in a simple and efficient manner is designed to improve the availability of emulsion droplets for point of care bioanalytical applications, in situ synthesis of materials, and on-site sample preparation tools.     

Preparation and characterization of W/O/W type double emulsion containing PGPR–lecithin mixture as lipophilic surfactant

The objective of this study is to produce double emulsion by combining polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR) with lecithin as lipophilic surfactant. Although lecithin alone produced only oil-in-water type emulsion, the mixture of lecithin and PGPR could produce water-in-oil type emulsion as well. Moreover, different emulsification treatments were applied to study the influence of homogenization methods on the physicochemical characteristics. The obtained double emulsions were compared in terms of stability and droplet size. It was found that the homogenization method influenced the physiochemical characteristics of the double emulsion and the most stable double emulsion with the smallest droplet size was obtained by high-speed homogenization method.     

High-volume production of single and compound emulsions in a microfluidic parallelization arrangement coupled with coaxial annular world-to-chip interfaces

This study describes a microfluidic platform with coaxial annular world-to-chip interfaces for high-throughput production of single and compound emulsion droplets, having controlled sizes and internal compositions. The production module consists of two distinct elements: a planar square chip on which many copies of a microfluidic droplet generator (MFDG) are arranged circularly, and a cubic supporting module with coaxial annular channels for supplying fluids evenly to the inlets of the mounted chip, assembled from blocks with cylinders and holes. Three-dimensional flow was simulated to evaluate the distribution of flow velocity in the coaxial multiple annular channels. By coupling a 1.5 cm × 1.5 cm microfluidic chip with parallelized 144 MFDGs and a supporting module with two annular channels, for example, we could produce simple oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion droplets having a mean diameter of 90.7 μm and a coefficient of variation (CV) of 2.2% at a throughput of 180.0 mL h(-1). Furthermore, we successfully demonstrated high-throughput production of Janus droplets, double emulsions and triple emulsions, by coupling 1.5 cm × 1.5 cm - 4.5 cm × 4.5 cm microfluidic chips with parallelized 32-128 MFDGs of various geometries and supporting modules with 3-4 annular channels.     

Rapid microfabrication of solvent-resistant biocompatible microfluidic devices

This paper presents a rapid, simple, and low-cost fabrication method to prepare solvent resistant and biocompatible microfluidic devices with three-dimensional geometries. The devices were fabricated in thiolene and replicated from PDMS master with high molding fidelity. Good chemical compatibility for organic solvents allows volatile chemicals in synthesis and analysis applications. The surface can be processed to be hydrophobic or hydrophilic for water-in-oil and oil-in-water emulsions. Monodisperse organic solvent droplet generation is demonstrated to be reproducible in thiolene microchannels without swelling. The thiolene surface prevents cell adhesion but normal cell growth and adhesion on glass substrates is not affected by the adjacent thiolene patterns.     

Microfluidic chip fabrication using hot embossing and thermal bonding of COP

The application of silicon mold inserts by micro‐hot embossing molding has been explored in microfluidic chip fabrication. For the mold insert, this study employed an SU‐8 photoresist to coat the silicon wafer. Ultraviolet light was then used to expose the pattern on the SU‐8 photoresist surface. This study replicates the microstructure of the silicon mold insert by micro‐hot embossing molding. Different processing parameters (embossing temperature, embossing pressure, embossing time, and de‐molding temperature) for the cycle‐olefin polymer (COP) film of microfluidic chips are evaluated. The results showed that the most important parameter for replication of molded microfluidic chip is embossing temperature. De‐molding temperature is the most important parameter for surface roughness of the molded microfluidic chip. The microchannel is bonded with a cover by thermal bonding processing to form the sealed microfluidic chip. The bonding temperature is the most important factor in the bonding strength of the sealed microfluidic chip. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparison of monodisperse droplet generation in flow-focusing devices with hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces

A thin flow-focusing microfluidic channel is evaluated for generating monodisperse liquid droplets. The microfluidic device is used in its native state, which is hydrophilic, or treated with OTS to make it hydrophobic. Having both hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces allows for creation of both oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsions, facilitating a large parameter study of viscosity ratios (droplet fluid/continuous fluid) ranging from 0.05 to 96 and flow rate ratios (droplet fluid/continuous fluid) ranging from 0.01 to 2 in one geometry. The hydrophilic chip provides a partially-wetting surface (contact angle less than 90°) for the inner fluid. This surface, combined with the unusually thin channel height, promotes a flow regime where the inner fluid wets the top and bottom of the channel in the orifice and a stable jet is formed. Through confocal microscopy, this fluid stabilization is shown to be highly influenced by the contact angle of the liquids in the channel. Non-wetting jets undergo breakup and produce drops when the jet is comparable to or smaller than the channel thickness. In contrast, partially-wetting jets undergo breakup only when they are much smaller than the channel thickness. Drop sizes are found to scale with a modified capillary number based on the total flow rate regardless of wetting behavior.     

Fast on-demand droplet fusion using transient cavitation bubbles

A method for on-demand droplet fusion in a microfluidic channel is presented using the flow created from a single explosively expanding cavitation bubble. We test the technique for water-in-oil droplets, which are produced using a T-junction design in a microfluidic chip. The cavitation bubble is created with a pulsed laser beam focused into one droplet. High-speed photography of the dynamics reveals that the droplet fusion can be induced within a few tens of microseconds and is caused by the rapid thinning of the continuous phase film separating the droplets. The cavitation bubble collapses and re-condenses into the droplet. Droplet fusion is demonstrated for static and moving droplets, and for droplets of equal and unequal sizes. Furthermore, we reveal the diffusion dominated mixing flow and the transport of a single encapsulated cell into a fused droplet. This laser-based droplet fusion technique may find applications in micro-droplet based chemical synthesis and bioassays.     

微流控芯片液滴生成与检测技术研究进展

微流控芯片液滴技术是一种操控微小体积液体的新技术,既可实现高通量微观样本的生成及控制,也可进行独立液滴的操作.分散的微液滴单元可作为理想的微反应器,在生物医药中的药物筛选、材料筛选和高附加值微颗粒材料合成领域展现出巨大的应用潜力.液滴微流控芯片是利用流体剪切力的改变,使互不相溶的两相流体在其界面处生成稳定、有序的液滴,...     

Molecular dynamics simulation of cellulose-coated oil-in-water emulsions

The behaviors of cellulose chains and cellulose mini-crystal in oil-in-water emulsions were studied by molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the coating states and the structural features of cellulose in these emulsions. In oil-in-water emulsion, dispersed cellulose chains gradually assemble during the progress of the simulation, eventually surrounding the octane droplet. In case of a cellulose mini-crystal, the cellulose chain at the corner of the crystal first contacts with the octane droplet through its hydrophobic surface. The other cellulose chains along the crystal plane then gradually move toward the octane molecules. In both emulsions, the cellulose was found to interact with both water and octane surfaces with specific conformations that allow the CH groups of the glucose rings to contact with octane molecules, while the OH groups of these rings contact with water molecules to form hydrogen bonds. The cellulose chains on the octane droplet also contact with each other through lateral hydrogen bonding between chains. These interactions stabilize the emulsion formed by cellulose molecules as surfactants.     

Development of Microdroplet Generation Method for Organic Solvents Used in Chemical Synthesis

Recently, chemical operations with microfluidic devices, especially droplet-based operations, have attracted considerable attention because they can provide an isolated small-volume reaction field. However, analysis of these operations has been limited mostly to aqueous-phase reactions in water droplets due to device material restrictions. In this study, we have successfully demonstrated droplet formation of five common organic solvents frequently used in chemical synthesis by using a simple silicon/glass-based microfluidic device. When an immiscible liquid with surfactant was used as the continuous phase, the organic solvent formed droplets similar to water-in-oil droplets in the device. In contrast to conventional microfluidic devices composed of resins, which are susceptible to swelling in organic solvents, the developed microfluidic device did not undergo swelling owing to the high chemical resistance of the constituent materials. Therefore, the device has potential applications for various chemical reactions involving organic solvents. Furthermore, this droplet generation device enabled control of droplet size by adjusting the liquid flow rate. The droplet generation method proposed in this work will contribute to the study of organic reactions in microdroplets and will be useful for evaluating scaling effects in various chemical reactions.