High-Aspect-Ratio Microfluidic Channel with Parallelogram Cross-Section for Monodisperse Droplet Generation
Droplet-based microfluidics has been widely used as a potent high-throughput platform due to various advantages, such as a small volume of reagent consumption, massive production of droplets, fast reaction time, and independent control of each droplet. Therefore, droplet microfluidic systems demand...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-02-01
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| Series: | Biosensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/12/2/118 |
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| author | Hyeonyeong Ji Jaehun Lee Jaewon Park Jungwoo Kim Hyun Soo Kim Younghak Cho |
| author_facet | Hyeonyeong Ji Jaehun Lee Jaewon Park Jungwoo Kim Hyun Soo Kim Younghak Cho |
| author_sort | Hyeonyeong Ji |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Droplet-based microfluidics has been widely used as a potent high-throughput platform due to various advantages, such as a small volume of reagent consumption, massive production of droplets, fast reaction time, and independent control of each droplet. Therefore, droplet microfluidic systems demand the reliable generation of droplets with precise and effective control over their size and distribution, which is critically important for various applications in the fields of chemical analysis, material synthesis, lab-on-a-chip, cell research, diagnostic test, and so on. In this study, we propose a microfluidic device with a high-aspect-ratio (HAR) channel, which has a parallelogram cross-section, for generating monodisperse droplets. The HAR channel was fabricated using simple and cheap MEMS processes, such as photolithography, anisotropic wet etching, and PDMS molding, without expensive equipment. In addition, the parallelogram cross-section channel structure, regarded as a difficult shape to implement in previous fabrication methods, was easily formed by the self-alignment between the silicon channel and the PDMS mold, both of which were created from a single crystal silicon through an anisotropic etching process. We investigated the effects of the cross-sectional shape (parallelogram vs. rectangle) and height-to-width ratio of microfluidic channels on the size and uniformity of generated droplets. Using the developed HAR channel with the parallelogram cross-section, we successfully obtained smaller monodisperse droplets for a wider range of flow rates, compared with a previously reported HAR channel with a rectangular cross-section. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T22:28:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f076f61a2c4c4e02838255b4282575ab |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2079-6374 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T22:28:28Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biosensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-f076f61a2c4c4e02838255b4282575ab2023-11-23T19:01:37ZengMDPI AGBiosensors2079-63742022-02-0112211810.3390/bios12020118High-Aspect-Ratio Microfluidic Channel with Parallelogram Cross-Section for Monodisperse Droplet GenerationHyeonyeong Ji0Jaehun Lee1Jaewon Park2Jungwoo Kim3Hyun Soo Kim4Younghak Cho5Department of Mechanical System Design Engineering, Seoul National University of Science & Technology, Seoul 01811, KoreaDaegu Research Center for Medical Devices and Rehabilitation, Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, Daegu 42994, KoreaSchool of Microelectronics, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, ChinaDepartment of Mechanical System Design Engineering, Seoul National University of Science & Technology, Seoul 01811, KoreaDepartment of Electronic Engineering, Kwangwoon University, Seoul 01897, KoreaDepartment of Mechanical System Design Engineering, Seoul National University of Science & Technology, Seoul 01811, KoreaDroplet-based microfluidics has been widely used as a potent high-throughput platform due to various advantages, such as a small volume of reagent consumption, massive production of droplets, fast reaction time, and independent control of each droplet. Therefore, droplet microfluidic systems demand the reliable generation of droplets with precise and effective control over their size and distribution, which is critically important for various applications in the fields of chemical analysis, material synthesis, lab-on-a-chip, cell research, diagnostic test, and so on. In this study, we propose a microfluidic device with a high-aspect-ratio (HAR) channel, which has a parallelogram cross-section, for generating monodisperse droplets. The HAR channel was fabricated using simple and cheap MEMS processes, such as photolithography, anisotropic wet etching, and PDMS molding, without expensive equipment. In addition, the parallelogram cross-section channel structure, regarded as a difficult shape to implement in previous fabrication methods, was easily formed by the self-alignment between the silicon channel and the PDMS mold, both of which were created from a single crystal silicon through an anisotropic etching process. We investigated the effects of the cross-sectional shape (parallelogram vs. rectangle) and height-to-width ratio of microfluidic channels on the size and uniformity of generated droplets. Using the developed HAR channel with the parallelogram cross-section, we successfully obtained smaller monodisperse droplets for a wider range of flow rates, compared with a previously reported HAR channel with a rectangular cross-section.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/12/2/118high-aspect-ratio microfluidic channelparallelogram cross-sectionmonodisperse dropletdroplet generation |
| spellingShingle | Hyeonyeong Ji Jaehun Lee Jaewon Park Jungwoo Kim Hyun Soo Kim Younghak Cho High-Aspect-Ratio Microfluidic Channel with Parallelogram Cross-Section for Monodisperse Droplet Generation Biosensors high-aspect-ratio microfluidic channel parallelogram cross-section monodisperse droplet droplet generation |
| title | High-Aspect-Ratio Microfluidic Channel with Parallelogram Cross-Section for Monodisperse Droplet Generation |
| title_full | High-Aspect-Ratio Microfluidic Channel with Parallelogram Cross-Section for Monodisperse Droplet Generation |
| title_fullStr | High-Aspect-Ratio Microfluidic Channel with Parallelogram Cross-Section for Monodisperse Droplet Generation |
| title_full_unstemmed | High-Aspect-Ratio Microfluidic Channel with Parallelogram Cross-Section for Monodisperse Droplet Generation |
| title_short | High-Aspect-Ratio Microfluidic Channel with Parallelogram Cross-Section for Monodisperse Droplet Generation |
| title_sort | high aspect ratio microfluidic channel with parallelogram cross section for monodisperse droplet generation |
| topic | high-aspect-ratio microfluidic channel parallelogram cross-section monodisperse droplet droplet generation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/12/2/118 |
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