Roll-to-roll wax transfer for rapid and batch fabrication of paper-based microfluidics

Liu, Jingji; Kong, Xiaopeng; Wang, Hongliang; Zhang, Yajun; Fan, Yiqiang

doi:10.1007/s10404-019-2310-2

Cited by 19 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Here, the capillary action serves as the driving pump to spread samples from one end to another (Xie et al, 2019;Nishat et al, 2021). Hydrophobic fluid barriers can also be used to control the fluid flow in porous devices, turning a single piece of paper into a fluid managing platform (Soum et al, 2019;Liu et al, 2020;Liu et al, 2021). Different printers can be used to create hydrophobic walls that confine the fluid transport in between, most printers are simple, inexpensive, and suitable for large volume creation (mass production) (Tomazelli Coltro et al, 2014;Adkins et al, 2015).…”

Section: Fabrication Methods For Porous Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-cost microfluidics: Towards affordable environmental monitoring and assessment

Mesquita

Gong

Lin

2022

Front. Lab. Chip. Technol.

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Effective environmental monitoring has become a worldwide concern, requiring the development of novel tools to deal with pollution risks and manage natural resources. However, a majority of current assessment methods are still costly and labor-intensive. Thanks to the rapid advancements in microfluidic technology over the past few decades, great efforts have been made to develop miniaturized tools for rapid and efficient environmental monitoring. Compared to traditional large-scale devices, microfluidic approaches provide several advantages such as low sample and energy consumption, shortened analysis time and adaptabilities to onsite applications. More importantly, it provides a low-cost solution for onsite environmental assessment leveraging the ubiquitous materials such as paper and plastics, and cost-effective fabrication methods such as inkjet printing and drawing. At present, devices that are disposable, reproducible, and capable of mass production have been developed and manufactured for a wide spectrum of applications related to environmental monitoring. This review summarizes the recent advances of low-cost microfluidics in the field of environmental monitoring. Initially, common low-cost materials and fabrication technologies are introduced, providing a perspective on the currently available low-cost microfluidic manufacturing techniques. The latest applications towards effective environmental monitoring and assessment in water quality, air quality, soil nutrients, microorganisms, and other applications are then reviewed. Finally, current challenges on materials and fabrication technologies and research opportunities are discussed to inspire future innovations.

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Section: Fabrication Methods For Porous Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-cost microfluidics: Towards affordable environmental monitoring and assessment

Mesquita

Gong

Lin

2022

Front. Lab. Chip. Technol.

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“…In 2019, Liu et al. built a custom wax transfer device and demonstrated the first application of this technique for fabricating microPADs . The main advantage of thermal transfer printing for patterning paper is that the solid inks used by the printers melt at relatively low temperatures (<100 °C), so it should be possible to fabricate microPADs using any thermal transfer printer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…14 In 2019, Liu et al built a custom wax transfer device and demonstrated the first application of this technique for fabricating microPADs. 15 The main advantage of thermal transfer printing for patterning paper is that the solid inks used by the printers melt at relatively low temperatures (<100 °C), so it should be possible to fabricate microPADs using any thermal transfer printer. The disadvantage of commercially available thermal transfer printers, and perhaps the reason they have not yet been explored for fabricating microPADs is that they typically only print over small surface areas or on specific substrate formats, such as rolls of labels.…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Wax Printing: Fabrication of Paper-Based Microfluidic Devices Using a Thermal Transfer Printer

et al. 2022

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Paper-based microfluidic devices, also known as microPADs, are an emerging analytical platform with the potential to improve point-of-care diagnostics. MicroPADs are fabricated by patterning hydrophobic inks onto sheets of paper to create hydrophilic channels and test zones. One of the main advantages of microPADs is that they are inexpensive and simple to fabricate, making them accessible even to researchers with limited budgets or no prior fabrication expertise. Wax printing, where a solid ink printer is used to pattern wax on paper, has been the most convenient and popular method for fabricating paper-based microfluidic devices. Unfortunately, solid ink printers were discontinued in 2016 and are no longer available commercially. Here we introduce a method for fabricating microPADs using a portable thermal transfer printer that retains the convenience of wax printing. Devices fabricated by thermal transfer printing were comparable to devices fabricated via wax printing and laser printing. The low cost, convenience, and portability of the thermal transfer printer make this approach an exciting prospect for replacing wax printing and facilitating the continued development of paper-based microfluidics.

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“…[9,10] Based on the wax printing and origami techniques, microfluidic channels can be precisely created on paper in various configurations, providing a feasible platform for the design and fabrication of a broad range of miniaturized electrochemical devices toward practical applications. [11][12][13][14] On the one hand, paper-based microfluidic technique has been widely used to develop electrochemical sensing devices in the fields of medical diagnosis, food safety analysis, environmental monitoring. [15][16][17][18][19][20] On the other hand, many types of portable and disposable energy devices (e.g., primary batteries, fuel cells, bio-batteries, metal-air batteries) are also designed and fabricated based on the paper-based microfluidic system.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar‐Boosted Paper‐Based Microfluidic Fuel Cells for Miniaturized Power Sources

Wang

Shen

et al. 2022

Adv Materials Technologies

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devices in various fields, such as sensing and energy storage/conversion devices. Microfluidic technologies enable miniaturization and integration of various reaction processes and technologies into on-chip devices. [1,2] In traditional microfluidic systems, microfluidic channels are constructed by molding, photolithography, or etching glass, silicon or polymer substrates. [3][4][5] These substrates are rigid materials with high cost, making the systems less feasible for constructing flexible devices, especially single-use devices. Moreover, the flow within microfluidic channels is usually controlled by pumps, which inevitably increases the total cost of the system, thus making it difficult to miniaturize the whole device. [6,7] Compared with conventional microfluidic systems, paper emerges as an attractive microfluidic substrate. Paper is an inexpensive and environmentally friendly material with high flexibility. The hierarchical porous structure of paper with dimensions of tens to hundreds of micrometers is originated from the randomly interconnected cellulose fibers. [8] This structure enables liquid to flow spontaneously by capillarity, which eliminates the use of pumps. [9,10] Based on the wax printing and origami techniques, microfluidic channels can be precisely created on paper in various configurations, providing a feasible platform for the design and fabrication of a broad range of miniaturized electrochemical devices toward practical applications. [11][12][13][14] On the one hand, paper-based microfluidic technique has been widely used to develop electrochemical sensing devices in the fields of medical diagnosis, food safety analysis, environmental monitoring. [15][16][17][18][19][20] On the other hand, many types of portable and disposable energy devices (e.g., primary batteries, fuel cells, bio-batteries, metal-air batteries) are also designed and fabricated based on the paper-based microfluidic system. [21][22][23][24][25][26] Flow regulating is one of the key points in fabricating microfluidic electrochemical devices since the flow behavior of the liquid electrolyte can significantly influence the device performance. In conventional microfluidic systems, the flow dynamics can be easily controlled by pumps. While in paper-based microfluidic systems, the flow behavior can be manipulated by constructing paper channel with various structures. [27][28][29] In our previous work regarding the paper-based microfluidic fuel cell, we found that the microstructure of Paper-based microfluidics emerges as an innovative platform for constructing miniaturized electrochemical devices, which mainly benefit from the spontaneous capillary action of paper. Nevertheless, the capillary-driven flow dynamics on paper are determined exclusively by the intrinsic properties of paper and fluidics, thus lacking the controllability that conventional pump-based microfluidics can provide. Herein, an approach to regulating the capillary flow on paper is introduced by conjugating the outlets of microfluidic channels with a photothe...

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Roll-to-roll wax transfer for rapid and batch fabrication of paper-based microfluidics

Cited by 19 publications

References 23 publications

Low-cost microfluidics: Towards affordable environmental monitoring and assessment

Low-cost microfluidics: Towards affordable environmental monitoring and assessment

Beyond Wax Printing: Fabrication of Paper-Based Microfluidic Devices Using a Thermal Transfer Printer

Solar‐Boosted Paper‐Based Microfluidic Fuel Cells for Miniaturized Power Sources

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