Park Suhee, Cho Hyungseok, Kim Junhyeong, Han Ki-Ho
Center for Nano Manufacturing, Department of Nanoscience and Engineering, Inje University, Gimhae 50834, Gyongnam, Korea.
Membranes (Basel). 2021 Apr 26;11(5):316. doi: 10.3390/membranes11050316.
It is critical to develop a fast and simple method to remove air bubbles inside microchannels for automated, reliable, and reproducible microfluidic devices. As an active degassing method, this study introduces a lateral degassing method that can be easily implemented in disposable film-chip microfluidic devices. This method uses a disposable film-chip microchannel superstrate and a reusable substrate, which can be assembled and disassembled simply by vacuum pressure. The disposable microchannel superstrate is readily fabricated by bonding a microstructured polydimethylsiloxane replica and a silicone-coated release polymeric thin film. The reusable substrate can be a plate that has no function or is equipped with the ability to actively manipulate and sense substances in the microchannel by an elaborately patterned energy field. The degassing rate of the lateral degassing method and the maximum available pressure in the microchannel equipped with lateral degassing were evaluated. The usefulness of this method was demonstrated using complex structured microfluidic devices, such as a meandering microchannel, a microvortex, a gradient micromixer, and a herringbone micromixer, which often suffer from bubble formation. In conclusion, as an easy-to-implement and easy-to-use technique, the lateral degassing method will be a key technique to address the bubble formation problem of microfluidic devices.
开发一种快速简便的方法来去除微通道内的气泡，对于自动化、可靠且可重复的微流控设备至关重要。作为一种主动脱气方法，本研究引入了一种横向脱气方法，该方法可轻松应用于一次性薄膜芯片微流控设备。此方法使用一次性薄膜芯片微通道盖片和可重复使用的基底，它们可通过真空压力简单地进行组装和拆卸。一次性微通道盖片可通过将微结构化聚二甲基硅氧烷复制品与涂有硅酮的可剥离聚合物薄膜粘合而成。可重复使用的基底可以是一块没有功能的平板，或者是一块通过精心设计的能量场具备主动操纵和感知微通道内物质能力的平板。评估了横向脱气方法的脱气速率以及配备横向脱气的微通道中的最大可用压力。使用复杂结构的微流控设备，如蜿蜒微通道、微涡旋、梯度微混合器和人字形微混合器，证明了该方法的有效性，这些设备经常会出现气泡形成的问题。总之，作为一种易于实施和使用的技术，横向脱气方法将成为解决微流控设备气泡形成问题的关键技术。
