Do it yourself- circular cross-section microfluidic channel

Abstract

In this article, we report the design and fabrication of a ‘do-it-yourself’ microfluidic channel with a circular cross-section, created outside a cleanroom facility. In this approach, the fabrication of the channel do not require any chemical etching or lithography steps, making it safe and suitable for small research groups. The channel is fabricated using the soft-lithography method in polydimethylsiloxane (Sylgard® 184). A copper wire with a diameter of 240 µm is used as a mold, and the channel is created using the wire pull-out method. This work also addresses the optimal use of polydimethylsiloxane in channel fabrication, as well as the challenges faced when connecting the microchannel to the outside world via tubing and techniques to overcome them. All simulations were conducted using COMSOL Multiphysics 6.0. The analytical, simulation, and test results, show a good match.

Keywords:

• Channel
• copper wire
• flow rate
• mold
• PDMS
• soft-lithography
• wire removal

Reviewing Editor:

• D T Pham, University of Birmingham, UNITED KINGDOM

Subjects:

• Mechanical Engineering Design
• Fluid Mechanics
• Biomedical Engineering

Acknowledgements

The authors of this paper would like to thank Dr. Shounak De, an Additional Professor at the same department, for providing access to his laboratory equipment. The authors would also like to acknowledge I-STEM, Indian Institute of Science, CeNSE, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560012, for providing access to COMSOL Multiphysics 6.0 for simulating the design. Lastly, the authors are thankful to Dr. Swapna K S, an Assistant Professor (Senior Scale) at the Department of Humanities and Management, MIT, MAHE, Manipal, for her contribution towards language correction.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shailendra Kumar Tiwari

Shailendra Kumar Tiwari earned his Ph.D. in Microfluidics and MEMS for biomedical applications from Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Karnataka. He holds a M.Tech in VLSI Design from Sathyabama University, Tamil Nadu. Currently, an Associate Professor at Manipal Institute of Technology, his research focuses on MEMS and VLSI Design.

Somashekara Bhat

Somashekara Bhat is a Professor in the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering at Manipal Institute of Technology, MAHE, Karnataka. He earned his Ph.D. in MEMS from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, in 2008. His research focuses on MEMS and electronics for biomedical applications.

Sandhya Parasnath Dubey

Sandhya Parasnath Dubey holds a Ph.D. in bioinformatics and high-performance computing from Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Karnataka. With an M.E. in CSE from Sathyabama University, Tamil Nadu, she is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Data Science and Computer Applications at Manipal Institute of Technology, MAHE, Manipal, India.