bcde Microfluidic-based integrated molecular diagnostic systems, which are automated, sensitive, specific, userfriendly, robust, rapid, easy-to-use, and portable, can revolutionize future medicine. Current research and development largely relies on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to fabricate microfluidic devices. Since the transition from the proof-of-principle phase to clinical studies requires a vast number of integrated microfluidic devices, there is a need for a high-volume manufacturing method of silicone-based microfluidics. Here we present the first roll-to-roll (R2R) thermal imprinting method to fabricate integrated PDMS-paper microfluidics for molecular diagnostics, which allows production of tens of thousands of replicates in an hour. In order to validate the replicated molecular diagnostic platforms, on-chip amplification of viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) with loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) was demonstrated. These low-cost, rapid and accurate molecular diagnostic platforms will generate a wide range of applications in preventive personalized medicine, global healthcare, agriculture, food, environment, water monitoring, and global biosecurity.
Stretchable
electronics has attracted much interest recently because
of its potential applications in the area of wearable electronics
and healthcare. Highly elastic polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS) has been
for decades a widely used material in prototyping purposes. It enables
the realization of a variety of mechanical and optical functions besides
being a substrate for other processes or applications. As a substrate,
PDMS enables high stretchability and easy integration of other parts
made of PDMS. In this work, we demonstrated a high-volume production
of stretchable electrical interconnections on PDMS substrates. We
used roll-to-roll (R2R) rotary screen printing that has been conventionally
applied in high-throughput fabrication of electronics on flexible,
but not stretchable, substrates. We demonstrated silver interconnects
whose conductivity remains sufficient for signal transmission, for
example, in sensor structures under repeated 20% strain over 100 cycles.
We also demonstrated R2R compatible PDMS encapsulation of electrical
interconnections that increased the strain repetition durability by
a factor of 2.
Flexible photonic integrated circuit technology is an emerging field expanding the usage possibilities of photonics, particularly in sensor applications, by enabling the realization of conformable devices and introduction of new alternative production methods. Here, we demonstrate that disposable polymeric photonic integrated circuit devices can be produced in lengths of hundreds of meters by ultra-high volume roll-to-roll methods on a flexible carrier. Attenuation properties of hundreds of individual devices were measured confirming that waveguides with good and repeatable performance were fabricated. We also demonstrate the applicability of the devices for the evanescent wave sensing of ambient refractive index. The production of integrated photonic devices using ultra-high volume fabrication, in a similar manner as paper is produced, may inherently expand methods of manufacturing low-cost disposable photonic integrated circuits for a wide range of sensor applications.
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