Experimental Studies on the Surface-Driven Microfluidic Flow of Dyed Ethylene Glycol in Polymer Microfluidic Devices

Abstract

In this experimental work, three individual microfluidic devices are fabricated by polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) using maskless lithography, hot embossing lithography and direct bonding technique. Straight microchannel having uniform width along entire channel length is the chosen design of microchannels before fabrication. Dyed ethylene glycol is prepared and used as working liquid. Effect of channel aspect ratio on surface-driven capillary flow of dyed ethylene glycol is studied. CMOS camera is used to record each surface-driven capillary flow of dyed ethylene glycol. This work will be useful to fabricate the microfluidic laboratory-on-a-chip systems for bioengineering applications. This work may be suitable in the applications related to bioengineering and applied chemistry.

Keywords: Polymer; Microfluidic device; Ethylene glycol; Camera