Title :
Low-cost rapid prototyping of flexible plastic paper based microfluidic devices
Author :
Yiqiang Fan ; Huawei Li ; Ying Yi ; Foulds, I.G.
Author_Institution :
Electromech. Microsyst. & Polymer Integration Res. (EMPIRe) Group, King Abdullah Univ. of Sci. & Technol. (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
Abstract :
This research presents a novel rapid prototyping method for paper-based flexible microfluidic devices. The microchannels were fabricated using laser ablation on a piece of plastic paper (permanent paper), the dimensions of the microchannels was carefully studied for various laser powers and scanning speeds. After laser ablation of the microchannels on the plastic paper, a transparent poly (methyl methacrylate)(PMMA) film was thermally bonded to the plastic paper to enclose the channels. After connection of tubing, the device was ready to use. An example microfluidic device (droplet generator) was also fabricated using this technique. Due to the flexibility of the fabricated device, this technique can be used to fabricate 3D microfluidic devices. The fabrication process was simple and rapid without any requirement of cleanroom facilities.
Keywords :
laser ablation; microfabrication; microfluidics; plastics; production engineering computing; rapid prototyping (industrial); PMMA film; droplet generator; flexible plastic paper; laser ablation; microchannels; microfluidic device fabrication; polymethyl methacrylate film; rapid prototyping; thermal bonding; Fabrication; Laser ablation; Laser beam cutting; Microchannel; Microfluidics; Plastics; Power lasers; laser ablation; microfluidics; paper-based microfluidics;
Conference_Titel :
Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems (NEMS), 2013 8th IEEE International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Suzhou
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4673-6351-8
DOI :
10.1109/NEMS.2013.6559708