From Design to Performance: 3-D Printing-Enabled Optimization of Low-Cost Droplet Microfluidics

• Published in: IEEE sensors journal Vol. 24; no. 1; pp. 63 - 70
• Main Authors: Anshori, Isa, Sarwono, Febricetta Zahraketzia, Fa’iq, Muhammad Azhar, Putra, Narendra Kurnia, Suwardy, Joko, Purwidyantri, Agnes, Prabowo, Briliant Adhi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) 01.01.2024
• Subjects: 3-D printers; Computational fluid dynamics; Design optimization; Droplets; Flow velocity; Low cost; Microfluidics; Performance evaluation; Three dimensional printing
• ISSN: 1530-437X; 1558-1748
• DOI: 10.1109/JSEN.2023.3332405

Droplet microfluidic is a novel technique for screening applications that offers benefits such as high throughput, low sample consumption, and improved single-cell analysis capabilities. This technique involves creating and manipulating small droplets of fluid that can serve as discrete reactors for various assays and experiments. However, droplet-based microfluidics have a complex, relatively high-cost, and time-consuming process. In this research, a T-shaped junction droplet generator is fabricated using 3-D printing. By using 3-D printing, droplet generator fabrication becomes simple, fast, and low-cost. The fabricated droplet-based microfluidics are then evaluated for their performance. Through several optimizations in dimension and flow rate, a droplet generator with a channel height of 0.5 mm and a width of 1 mm was successfully fabricated using the 3-D printing method. The droplet generator can produce monodisperse droplets with optimum performance with identical flow rates of [Formula Omitted] and [Formula Omitted] around 2.5 mL/h. The experimental result also in a good agreement with a 2-D numerical result based on computational fluid dynamics (CFDs) simulation.