3D ICE printing as a fabrication technology of microfluidics with pre-sealed reagents

This paper proposes a fast and inexpensive method to fabricate 3D structure by “ice printing”. This “bottom-up” 3D fabrication method is achieved by printing water onto the cold surface and turning into ice structure layer by layer. Through this method, fluid with reagents, such as drugs and nanoparticles, is sealed into microfluidics during fabrication, which is available for drug delivery or other medical care applications. Moreover, complex micro-channels are easily fabricated using 3D ice structure as soft lithography mould, which can be used for microfluidic mixer, three dimensional flow focusing, etc.