Wenlai Tang

 

Lecturer

University of Nanjing Normal University

China

 

 

3D printed microfluidic chips have advantages that low cost, fast and individual. Microfluidic chips based on the 3D printing technology and their applications were introduced. The first kind of microfluidic chips is the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic chip. The method for microfluidic devices was based on a lead zirconate titanate (PZT) drop-on-demand droplet generator on a modified open-source 3D wax printer. Wax was jetted in the form of droplet, linked with each other and formed into wax pattern with a PZT actuator and a glass nozzle. The influence of 3D printing parameters including the degree of overlap and the filling distance between the filling paths on the wax mold were studied. The final method was a mould-removal method for the microfuildic chips with unconventional cross-sections. By modifying the orifice shape of extrusion nozzle with picosecond laser cutting technology, the ABS microchannel moulds with arbitrary cross-sections could be facilely printed by using an ordinary desktop FDM printer. After conducting the PDMS casting and ABS dissolving, the all-PDMS microfluidic chips could be easily produced without the complex bonding process.（Zongan Li）