Understanding wax screen-printing: A novel patterning process for microfluidic cloth-based analytical devices

作者：Liu, Min; Zhang, Chunsun^*; Liu, Feifei

来源：Analytica Chimica Acta, 2015, 891: 234-246.

DOI：10.1016/j.aca.2015.06.034

• Microfluidic cloth-based analytical devices
• Wax screen-printing
• Low-cost fabrication
• Small-batch manufacturing
• Colorimetric detection
• High-throughput

In this work, we first introduce the fabrication of microfluidic cloth-based analytical devices (mu CADs) using a wax screen-printing approach that is suitable for simple, inexpensive, rapid, low-energy-consumption and high-throughput preparation of cloth-based analytical devices. We have carried out a detailed study on the wax screen-printing of mu CADs and have obtained some interesting results. Firstly, an analytical model is established for the spreading of molten wax in cloth. Secondly, a new wax screen-printing process has been proposed for fabricating mu CADs, where the melting of wax into the cloth is much faster (similar to 5 s) and the heating temperature is much lower (75 degrees C). Thirdly, the experimental results show that the patterning effects of the proposed wax screen-printing method depend to a certain extent on types of screens, wax melting temperatures and melting time. Under optimized conditions, the minimum printing width of hydrophobic wax barrier and hydrophilic channel is 100 mu m and 1.9 mm, respectively. Importantly, the developed analytical model is also well validated by these experiments. Fourthly, the mu CADs fabricated by the presented wax screen-printing method are used to perform a proof-of-concept assay of glucose or protein in artificial urine with rapid high-throughput detection taking place on a 48-chamber cloth-based device and being performed by a visual readout. Overall, the developed cloth-based wax screen-printing and arrayed mu CADs should provide a new research direction in the development of advanced sensor arrays for detection of a series of analytes relevant to many diverse applications.

• 出版日期2015-9-3
• 单位华南师范大学