Transparent and Inexpensive Microfluidic Device for Two‐Phase Flow Systems with High‐Pressure Performance

Abstract

A design strategy allowing the development of an inexpensive microdevice with a cylindrical section able to work at high pressures is established. The setup combines good optical access, high-pressure resistance, homogeneous operation conditions, fast process control and detection, and the ability to generate a stable twophase flow. The experiments are conducted in the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate and supercritical carbon dioxide flow under isothermal conditions. The two-phase flow system is observed with a high-speed camera. An image processing procedure is performed on the films in order to determine the global two-phase flow geometrical characterizations.

Compatibility analysis of 3D printer resin for biological applications

“…FormLabs clear that is compressible and transparent, but not flexible could find application in building microchannels that need to be sandwiched between two substrates for detection [13]. Venus clear that is transparent in appearance can be used for creating microchannels that involve biological samples in two-phase flow systems [42]. The proposed work focuses onto test for the compatibility of the resin to build a microfluidic device that inculcates protein, enzymatic (PCR), and cell interactions.…”

Fast and inexpensive method for the fabrication of transparent pressure-resistant microfluidic chips

“…Pressure-resistant microfluidic chips have become of increasing interest in recent years for flow chemistry (Benito-Lopez et al 2008;Verboom 2009;Razzaq et al 2009;Trachsel et al 2008), processes involving supercritical fluids (Benito-Lopez et al 2007;Marre et al 2012;Luther and Braeuer 2012), materials science (Marre et al 2012) and also as analysis tools (Benito-Lopez et al 2005;Keybl and Jensen 2011;Dorobantu Bodoc et al 2012;Pinho et al 2014;Macedo Portela da Silva et al 2014;Gothsch et al 2015;Blanch-Ojea et al 2012;Zhao et al 2013;Ogden et al 2014). Indeed, it is well known that operating processes at high pressure modify fluid properties, which may enable enhanced kinetics, conversion and selectivity (Verboom 2009;Benito Lopez et al 2007;Kobayashi et al 2005).…”

“…Some simpler glass devices based on fused silica capillaries have also been proposed for high-pressure applications (Macedo Portela da Silva et al 2014;Marre et al 2009). Marre et al (2009) showed the use of silica capillaries under pressure conditions ranging from 80 to 180 bar.…”