Engineering Research Center of Optical Instrument and System, the Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optical System, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China.
Department of Neurology, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine Shanghai Jiaotong University, No. 160 Pujian Rd., Shanghai 200127, China.
Biosensors (Basel). 2022 Nov 28;12(12):1085. doi: 10.3390/bios12121085.
Droplet-based microfluidics has a variety of applications, such as material synthesis and single-cell analysis. In this paper, we propose a modular microfluidic system using projection micro-stereolithography three-dimensional (3D) printing technology for droplet generation. All modules are designed using a standard cubic structure with a specific leakage-free connection interface. Versatile droplets, including single droplets, alternating droplets, merged droplets, and Janus particles, have been successfully produced. The droplet size and the generation rate can be flexibly controlled by adjusting the flow rates. The influence of the flow rate fraction between the discrete phase and the continuous phase over the generation of the alternating and merged droplets is discussed. Furthermore, the 'UV curing' module can be employed to solidify the generated droplets to avoid coalescence and fix the status of the Janus particles. The proposed modular droplet generators are promising candidates for various chemical and biological applications, such as single-cell incubation, screening of protein crystallization conditions, synthesis of nanoparticles, and gene delivery. In addition, we envision that more functional modules, e.g., valve, microreactor, and detection modules, could be developed, and the 3D standardized modular microfluidics could be further applied to other complex systems, i.e., concentration gradient generators and clinical diagnostic systems.
基于液滴的微流控技术具有多种应用，如材料合成和单细胞分析。在本文中，我们提出了一种使用投影微立体光刻三维（3D）打印技术的模块化微流控系统，用于液滴的生成。所有模块均采用标准立方结构设计，并具有特定的无泄漏连接接口。成功生成了各种类型的液滴，包括单液滴、交替液滴、合并液滴和双节粒子。通过调整流速，可以灵活地控制液滴的大小和生成速率。讨论了离散相和连续相之间的流速比对交替和合并液滴生成的影响。此外，“UV 固化”模块可用于固化生成的液滴，以避免聚并并固定双节粒子的状态。所提出的模块化液滴发生器有望应用于各种化学和生物学领域，如单细胞孵育、蛋白质结晶条件筛选、纳米粒子合成和基因传递。此外，我们设想可以开发更多功能模块，例如阀、微反应器和检测模块，并且 3D 标准化模块化微流控技术可以进一步应用于其他复杂系统，例如浓度梯度发生器和临床诊断系统。
