Hi,
I have been looking for alternative transparent materials to PDMS in the construction of microfluidic devices. My problem with PDMS is high oxygen permeation. Do you guys have any suggestion?
Thank you very much!
Hi,
depending on your application you can try Thiol-ene as an alternative to PDMS. It's a two step polymerization system, surface properties can be modified and adapted to your requirements.
You might consider using NOA81, a UV-curable optical adhesive. The process is rather simple, one can use a (inverted) PDMS stamp to imprint the polymer and UV-cure it. The NOA, which is in close contact with the PDMS remains not fully cured. This enables it to seal it with another glass slide. There is a lot of literature about this process.
You could use SU-8 or another UV-curable epoxy resin based photoresist
First of all any material that you take will have permeation of gases through it. Depending upon what is your requirement in the microfluidics, you have to select the materials. If you can work with increase in the wall thickness of the microfluidic structures, you can use pdms without any problem, otherwise there are alternatives as mentioned by others.
Regards
Amit
Depending on your application and design of your system (like interface/connectors) there will always be some gas permeation. Again gas permeation is relative based on needs of your application. 3D printing could be done since unlike PDMS there are less gas permeable materials. You could use glass to create channels and bond it. Metals could be used to create airtight structure, but that pushes the cost up. You could bond PMMA or similar materials to create sealed microfluidic structures.
As Roland Hager suggested, I would recommend to have a look at thiol-ene polymers, such as the OSTEmer sold by Mercene Lab AB, Sweden (http://www.mercenelabs.com).
This polymer system will solve lots of your problems with PDMS. It is gas tight, easily workable with process combining PDMS and SU8 processing, and has excellent room temperature covalent bonding capabilities without the need for plasma treatments.
Check out these publications:
- Pardon G et al. Rapid mold-free manufacturing of microfluidic devices with robust and spatially directed surface modifications. 2014 Feb 14;17(4):773–9. Available from: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10404-014-1351-9
- Carlborg CF, et al. Beyond PDMS: off-stoichiometry thiol-ene (OSTE) based soft lithography for rapid prototyping of microfluidic devices. Lab Chip. 2011 Sep 21;11(18):3136–47.
- Pardon G et al. Simultaneous Replication of Hydrophilic and Superhydrophobic Micropatterns through Area-Selective Monomers Self-Assembly. Adv Mater Interfaces. 2016 Aug 22;3(17):1600404.
- Hansson J et al. Synthetic microfluidic paper: high surface area and high porosity polymer micropillar arrays. Lab Chip. The Royal Society of Chemistry; 2016;16(2):298–304.
http://www.ostemers.com/applications/
Article Beyond PDMS: Off-stoichiometry thiol-ene (OSTE) based soft l...
Article Rapid mold-free manufacturing of microfluidic devices with r...
Article Synthetic Microfluidic Paper : high surface and high porosit...
Article Simultaneous Replication of Hydrophilic and Superhydrophobic...
Hi,
It's maybe bit late but it could help other researchers. I work with a new biocompatible polymer called Flexdym, which has the advantages of PDMS without its drawbacks. I know it is also less permeable to gases than PDMS and can be adapted to your requirements, so maybe you could try that way.
Here's a link to this polymer: https://darwin-microfluidics.com/products/flexdym-technology-an-alternative-to-pdms
Regards
Vincent
The Flexdym polymer created by Eden Tech is a great alternative PDMS.
It's biocompatible, transparent, gas permeable and can be molded in just a couple of minutes.
Here's a link: https://eden-microfluidics.com/
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