Battery-free fully integrated microfluidic light source for portable lab-on-a-chip applications

Integrating a light source inside a Lab-on-a-Chip (LOC) platform has always been as challenging as much as an appealing task. Besides the manufacturing issues, one of the most limiting aspects is due to the need for an energy source to feed the light emission. A solution independent of external energy sources can be given by Chemiluminescence (CL): a well-known chemical phenomenon in which light emission is achieved because of a chemical reaction. Here we present the fabrication and the characterization of a chemiluminescent light source, fully integrated on a microfluidic platform by means of the direct writing technique known as Femtosecond Laser Micromachining. The key advantage is the possibility to insert within LOC devices light sources with complete placement freedom in 3D, wide flexibility of the emitting source geometry and no external feeding energy. The characterization is carried out by investigating the effect of confining a chemiluminescent rubrene-based reaction in small volumes and the inject pressures impact on the emission spectra. Moreover, exploiting microfluidics principles, it’s possible to move from the typical flash-type CL emission to a prolonged one (several hours). This allows to disengage bulky, external light sources, adding an extra step on the road to real device portability.