Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, 08028, USA.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, 08028, USA.
Anal Chim Acta. 2021 Mar 22;1151:338230. doi: 10.1016/j.aca.2021.338230. Epub 2021 Jan 26.
Many laboratory applications utilizing droplet microfluidics rely on precision syringe pumps for flow generation. In this study, the use of an open-source peristaltic pump primarily composed of 3D printed parts and a low-cost commercial Venturi pump are explored for their use as an alternative to syringe pumps for droplet microfluidics. Both devices provided stable flow (<2% RSD) over a range of 1-7 μL/min and high reproducibility in signal intensity at a droplet generation rate around 0.25 Hz (<3% RSD), which are comparable in performance to similar measurements on standard syringe pumps. As a novel flow generation source for microfluidic applications, the use of the miniaturized Venturi pump was also applied to droplet signal monitoring studies used to measure changes in concentration over time, with average signal reproducibility <4% RSD for both single-stream fluorometric and reagent addition colorimetric applications. These low-cost flow methods provide stable flow sufficient for common droplet microfluidic approaches and can be implemented in a wide variety of simple, and potentially portable, analytical measurement devices.
许多利用液滴微流控技术的实验室应用都依赖于精密注射器泵来产生流动。在这项研究中，探索了使用主要由 3D 打印部件和低成本商业文丘里泵组成的开源蠕动泵作为注射器泵的替代物，用于液滴微流控。这两种设备都能够在 1-7 μL/min 的范围内提供稳定的流动（<2%RSD），并且在 0.25 Hz 的液滴生成率下信号强度的重现性很高（<3%RSD），其性能与标准注射器泵上的类似测量相当。作为微流控应用的新型流动产生源，还将小型化文丘里泵的使用应用于用于测量浓度随时间变化的液滴信号监测研究中，对于单流荧光和试剂添加比色两种应用，平均信号重现性均<4%RSD。这些低成本的流动方法提供了足够稳定的流动，适用于常见的液滴微流控方法，并且可以在各种简单且可能便携的分析测量设备中实现。
