A Flexible Method for Nanofiber-based 3D Microfluidic Device Fabrication for Water Quality Monitoring

Abstract

Water pollution seriously affects human health. Accurate and rapid detection and timely treatment of toxic substances in water are urgently needed. A stacked multilayer electrostatic printing technique was developed for making nanofiber-based microfluidic chips for water-quality testing. Nanofiber membrane matrix structures for microfluidic devices were fabricated by electrospinning. A hydrophobic barrier was then printed through electrostatic wax printing. This process was repeatedly performed to create three-dimensional nanofiber-based microfluidic analysis devices (3D-µNMADs). Flexible printing enabled one-step fabrication without the need for additional alignment or adhesive bonding. Practical applications of 3D-µNMADs include a colorimetric platform to quantitatively detect iron ion concentrations in water. There is also great potential for personalized point-of-care testing. Overall, the devices offer simple fabrication processes, flexible prototyping, potential for mass production, and multi-material integration.

Cellulose through the Lens of Microfluidics: A Review

“…Furthermore, it has found use in water quality analysis, as water pollution is harmful to human health. In Chen et al [160], a layered multilayer electrostatic printing approach for manufacturing nanofiber-based microfluidic chips for water quality analysis was created. Devices provide easy fabrication techniques, flexible prototyping, mass production possibilities, and multi-material integration.…”

“…Similarly, relying on microfluidic chips for analysis, a stacked design (multilayered) electrostatic printing technology was perceived for producing CNF-based microfluidic chip for detecting water quality since water pollution has a substantial influence on human health. This idea might be used to create a colorimetric platform that can quantitatively detect iron levels in water [160]. The hydrophilic channels are printed with wax on the substrate by electrostatic interaction (see Figure 4d).…”

“…This idea might be used to create a colorimetric platform that can quantitatively detect iron levels in water. Reproduced with permissions from[92,160,207,228].…”

3D Printed Materials in Water Treatment Applications

“…[ 113 ] Copyright 2019, ACS. i) Performance analysis of various 3D printed materials for oil/water separation (M1: Nanosilica‐filled PDMS Ink; [ 15 ] M2: PSU, candle soot; [ 54 ] M3:Aluminum borate whiskers, ceramic slurry; [ 114 ] M4: Cellulose acetate meshes; [ 58 ] M5: PA12, candle soot; [ 59 ] M6: CA, PVA, SiO 2 NPs; [ 60 ] M7: Mesh cap treated with low surface energy materials; [ 61 ] M8: PES layer onto wavy BTS supported composite membrane; [ 63 ] M9: PLA packings, polystyrene nanospheres). [ 113 ]…”

A Microfluidic Aptamer-Based Sensor for Detection of Mercury (II) and Lead (II) Ions in Water

“…Labon-a-chip (LOC) devices offer many advantages in this regard, including the ability to perform a wide range of on-chip functions, such as sample preparation and preconcentration [16][17][18], species mixing [19][20][21][22][23], cell sorting and counting [24][25][26][27][28], polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and so on. Many manufacturing materials and techniques have been proposed for the fabrication of microfluidic devices, including photolithography, laser engraving [29,30] and paper-based devices [31][32][33][34][35]. However, even though lithography has excellent precision and a good miniaturization ability, its production cost is extremely high [13].…”