{"title":"The design and fabrication of thermoplastic microfluidic chips with integrated micropillars for particle separation","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.jmrt.2024.09.135","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Microfluidic technology utilizing the deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) method holds significant promise for efficiently separating micro-particles and biological cells. Despite the notable high throughput advantages associated with DLD chips, their widespread application is impeded by the substantial manufacturing costs of tens of thousands of micropillars. This study aims to explore the feasibility of employing the injection molding method for the mass production of DLD microfluidic chips. A multistage DLD chip with varied critical diameters was designed to isolate white blood cells from the human whole blood. The separation effectiveness was verified with the polydimethylsiloxane chip fabricated by standard soft lithography. Subsequently, nickel mold inserts were electroformed to fabricate thermoplastic DLD chips via the injection molding. The replication quality of micropillars under different molding parameters was studied. The capability of injection-molded chips to effectively achieve particle separation was validated. Results showed that thermoplastic chips with good replication quality were obtained, providing a scale-up production strategy for fabricating polymer-based microfluidic chips for disposable separation applications.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54332,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Materials Research and Technology-Jmr&t","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2238785424021409/pdfft?md5=fe42476de9593be3d0e08881f0b91417&pid=1-s2.0-S2238785424021409-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Materials Research and Technology-Jmr&t","FirstCategoryId":"88","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2238785424021409","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Microfluidic technology utilizing the deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) method holds significant promise for efficiently separating micro-particles and biological cells. Despite the notable high throughput advantages associated with DLD chips, their widespread application is impeded by the substantial manufacturing costs of tens of thousands of micropillars. This study aims to explore the feasibility of employing the injection molding method for the mass production of DLD microfluidic chips. A multistage DLD chip with varied critical diameters was designed to isolate white blood cells from the human whole blood. The separation effectiveness was verified with the polydimethylsiloxane chip fabricated by standard soft lithography. Subsequently, nickel mold inserts were electroformed to fabricate thermoplastic DLD chips via the injection molding. The replication quality of micropillars under different molding parameters was studied. The capability of injection-molded chips to effectively achieve particle separation was validated. Results showed that thermoplastic chips with good replication quality were obtained, providing a scale-up production strategy for fabricating polymer-based microfluidic chips for disposable separation applications.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Materials Research and Technology is a publication of ABM - Brazilian Metallurgical, Materials and Mining Association - and publishes four issues per year also with a free version online (www.jmrt.com.br). The journal provides an international medium for the publication of theoretical and experimental studies related to Metallurgy, Materials and Minerals research and technology. Appropriate submissions to the Journal of Materials Research and Technology should include scientific and/or engineering factors which affect processes and products in the Metallurgy, Materials and Mining areas.