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A portable and affordable aligner for the assembly of microfluidic devices

The incorporation of sophisticated capabilities within microfluidic devices often requires the assembly of different layers in a correct arrangement. For example, when it is desired to include electrodes inside microfluidic channels or to create 3D microfluidic structures. However, the alignment bet...

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Autores principales: Guglielmotti, Victoria, Saffioti, Nicolás Andrés, Tohmé, Ana Laura, Gambarotta, Martín, Corthey, Gastón, Pallarola, Diego
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9465365/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36105917
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ohx.2022.e00348
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author Guglielmotti, Victoria
Saffioti, Nicolás Andrés
Tohmé, Ana Laura
Gambarotta, Martín
Corthey, Gastón
Pallarola, Diego
author_facet Guglielmotti, Victoria
Saffioti, Nicolás Andrés
Tohmé, Ana Laura
Gambarotta, Martín
Corthey, Gastón
Pallarola, Diego
author_sort Guglielmotti, Victoria
collection PubMed
description The incorporation of sophisticated capabilities within microfluidic devices often requires the assembly of different layers in a correct arrangement. For example, when it is desired to include electrodes inside microfluidic channels or to create 3D microfluidic structures. However, the alignment between different substrates at the microscale requires expensive equipment not available for all research groups. In this work, we present an affordable, compact and portable aligner for assembling multilayered composite microfluidic chips. The instrument is composed of aluminum machined pieces combined with precision stages and includes a digital microscope with a LED illumination system for monitoring the alignment process. An interchangeable holder was created for substrate fixing, allowing the bonding of PDMS with other materials. Microscopic visualization is achieved through any device with internet access, avoiding the need of a computer attached to the aligner. To test the performance of the aligner, the center of an indium tin oxide microelectrode on a glass substrate was aligned with the center of a microchannel in a PDMS chip. The accuracy and precision of the instrument are suited for many microfluidic applications. The small and inexpensive design of the aligner makes it a cost-effective option for small groups working in microfluidics.
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spelling pubmed-94653652022-09-13 A portable and affordable aligner for the assembly of microfluidic devices Guglielmotti, Victoria Saffioti, Nicolás Andrés Tohmé, Ana Laura Gambarotta, Martín Corthey, Gastón Pallarola, Diego HardwareX Article The incorporation of sophisticated capabilities within microfluidic devices often requires the assembly of different layers in a correct arrangement. For example, when it is desired to include electrodes inside microfluidic channels or to create 3D microfluidic structures. However, the alignment between different substrates at the microscale requires expensive equipment not available for all research groups. In this work, we present an affordable, compact and portable aligner for assembling multilayered composite microfluidic chips. The instrument is composed of aluminum machined pieces combined with precision stages and includes a digital microscope with a LED illumination system for monitoring the alignment process. An interchangeable holder was created for substrate fixing, allowing the bonding of PDMS with other materials. Microscopic visualization is achieved through any device with internet access, avoiding the need of a computer attached to the aligner. To test the performance of the aligner, the center of an indium tin oxide microelectrode on a glass substrate was aligned with the center of a microchannel in a PDMS chip. The accuracy and precision of the instrument are suited for many microfluidic applications. The small and inexpensive design of the aligner makes it a cost-effective option for small groups working in microfluidics. Elsevier 2022-08-27 /pmc/articles/PMC9465365/ /pubmed/36105917 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ohx.2022.e00348 Text en © 2022 The Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Guglielmotti, Victoria
Saffioti, Nicolás Andrés
Tohmé, Ana Laura
Gambarotta, Martín
Corthey, Gastón
Pallarola, Diego
A portable and affordable aligner for the assembly of microfluidic devices
title A portable and affordable aligner for the assembly of microfluidic devices
title_full A portable and affordable aligner for the assembly of microfluidic devices
title_fullStr A portable and affordable aligner for the assembly of microfluidic devices
title_full_unstemmed A portable and affordable aligner for the assembly of microfluidic devices
title_short A portable and affordable aligner for the assembly of microfluidic devices
title_sort portable and affordable aligner for the assembly of microfluidic devices
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9465365/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36105917
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ohx.2022.e00348
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