Microfluidic Channel from Gelatin Using Laser Printer

摘要

Microfluidic channel is a tool for manipulating and controlling fluids under small precise volumes and spaces. Nowadays, microfluidic fabrication has used varieties of materials such as silicon, glass, polymer, and ceramic. These materials generate waste and pollution in our environment. Moreover, the process of making microfluidic is sophisticated. Therefore, using the green-material, Gelatin is an attractive alternative to fabricate microfluidic because it is abundant, cheap, environmentally friendly, and reusable. Here, the Gelatin is employed for fabricating microfluidic by which the channel features were prepared using a laser printer. The fabrication procedure consists of the following steps (1) design the microfluidic channel features and print them on a transparency plastic sheet using a laser printer. (2) Pour aqueous gelatin solution on this printed template plastic sheet and (3) make the liquid gelatin setting by cooling it down in a refrigerator or leave it at room temperature. These steps allowed us to fabricate the smallest channel of 1.78mm (width) x 0.19mm (height) from 3pt line with 30 times layer printed, which was applicable to flow the liquid through the microfluidic.