Custom and Mass Manufacturing of High Resolution Microfluidics by Low Cost SLA 3D Printing
David Juncker,
Professor and Chair,
McGill University
I will present our work on stereolithography DLP and LCD 3D printing for microfluidics and notably how it elevated and transformed capillaric circuits (CC); CCs are structurally-encoded pre-programmed capillary microfluidics operating without moving part, peripherals nor computer, and powered by the free surface energy of paper. Capillaric circuits are hierarchically built from basic elements such as microchannels, resistances, pumps, valves (incl. stop-, trigger-, retention-, retention burst-, and domino-valves) and more complex sub-systems such as microfluidic chain reactions for scalable, algorithmic liquid handling operations. The progression from replica molding to digital manufacturing – i.e. from a digital file to functional device thanks to new hydrophilic inks – will be illustrated with various designs, notably the ELISA chip for point-of-care diagnostics. The potential of ultra-low cost LCD 3D printers and custom inks for microfluidics will be illustrated via microfluidic mixers, active valves, ELISA chips, and by mass manufacturing thousands of organ-on-chip devices in a single run. SLA 3D printing together with tailored inks pave the way for high-resolution distributed manufacturing of ready-to-use microfluidic systems (e.g. CCs with structurally encoded algorithms ) anywhere, by anyone who can spare US$300 to buy an LCD 3D printer.
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