Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Japan.
Biomed Microdevices. 2012 Aug;14(4):689-97. doi: 10.1007/s10544-012-9649-4.
We present a lithography-free procedure for fabricating intrinsically three-dimensional smooth-walled microchannels within poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) elastomer using hydrogel molds. In the fabrication process, small pieces of agarose gel ("wires" or "chips") are embedded in uncured PDMS composite, arranged in the shape of the desired microchannels, and used as molds to form the microchannels. The point of the process is that molds for creating junctions of microchannels such as T-junctions or cross-junctions can be robustly formed by simply grafting gel wires in uncured PDMS composite without using adhesive agents. The technical advantage of this method is that three-dimensional microstructures such as microchannels with circular cross sections, three-dimensionally arranged junctions or interchanges of microchannels can be flexibly designed and fabricated with a straightforward procedure without the need for any specialized equipment or layer-by-layer assemblage processes. This method provides a low-cost, green procedure for fabricating microfluidic devices and promises to make microfluidic processes more accessible and easy to implement in a variety of scientific fields.
我们提出了一种无需光刻的方法，可在聚二甲基硅氧烷（PDMS）弹性体中使用水凝胶模具制造具有内在三维光滑壁的微通道。在制造过程中，将小块琼脂糖凝胶（“线”或“芯片”）嵌入未固化的 PDMS 复合材料中，按照所需微通道的形状排列，并用作模具来形成微通道。该过程的关键是，可以通过简单地将凝胶线接枝到未固化的 PDMS 复合材料中，而无需使用粘合剂，来稳健地形成用于制造微通道（如 T 型或十字型）连接的模具。该方法的技术优势在于，可以通过简单的程序，灵活设计和制造具有圆形横截面的三维微结构，例如三维排列的连接点或微通道的交换，而无需任何专用设备或逐层组装工艺。这种方法为制造微流控器件提供了一种低成本、绿色的方法，并有望使微流控过程在各个科学领域更容易实现。
