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3D-printed peristaltic microfluidic systems fabricated from thermoplastic elastomer

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Abstract

Recent advancements in 3D printing technology have provided a potential low-cost and time-saving alternative to conventional PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane)-based microfabrication for microfluidic systems. In addition to reducing the complexity of the fabrication procedure by eliminating such intermediate steps as molding and bonding, 3D printing also offers more flexibility in terms of structural design than the PDMS micromolding process. At present, 3D-printed microfluidic systems typically utilize a relatively ‘stiff’ printing material such as ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene copolymers), which limits the implementation of large mechanical actuation for active pumping and mixing as routinely carried out in a PDMS system. In this paper, we report the development of an active 3D-printed microfluidic system with moving parts fabricated from a flexible thermoplastic elastomer (TPE). The 3D-printed microfluidic system consists of two pneumatically actuated micropumps and one micromixer. The completed system was successfully applied to the detection of low-level insulin concentration using a chemiluminescence immunoassay, and the test result compares favorably with a similarly designed PDMS microfluidic system. Prior to system fabrication and testing, the material properties of TPE were extensively evaluated. The result indicated that TPE is compatible with biological materials and its 3D-printed surface is hydrophilic as opposed to hydrophobic for a molded PDMS surface. The Young’s modulus of TPE is measured to be 16 MPa, which is approximately eight times higher than that of PDMS, but over one hundred times lower than that of ABS.

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Acknowledgements

This paper is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61573339) and the CAS FEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams. The authors would like to thank Mrs. E.M. Martin and J. Hockman for their assistance with cell cultures and sample preparation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Lab of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, China

    Jingyi Wang, Ping Yao, Niandong Jiao, Lianqing Liu & Steve Tung

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Jingyi Wang & Ping Yao

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA

    Carlton McMullen & Steve Tung

  4. Department of Physics, Williams College, Williamstown, MA, USA

    Min Kim

  5. Bio/Nano Technology Laboratory, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Institute for Nanoscience and Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA

    Min Kim & Jin-Woo Kim

Authors
  1. Jingyi Wang
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  2. Carlton McMullen
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  3. Ping Yao
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  4. Niandong Jiao
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  5. Min Kim
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  6. Jin-Woo Kim
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  7. Lianqing Liu
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  8. Steve Tung
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Lianqing Liu or Steve Tung.

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Wang, J., McMullen, C., Yao, P. et al. 3D-printed peristaltic microfluidic systems fabricated from thermoplastic elastomer. Microfluid Nanofluid 21, 105 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-017-1939-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-017-1939-y

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