Abstract
In this paper, we propose a novel portable and disposable pressure pump using a porous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sponge and demonstrate its application to a microfluidic lab-on-a-chip. The porous PDMS sponge was simply fabricated by a sugar leaching technique based on capillary suction of pre-cured PDMS into lumps of sugar, thereby enabling us to achieve the porous PDMS sponge composed of interconnected micropores. To indicate the characteristics of the porous PDMS sponge and pump, we measured the average porosities of them whose values were 0.64 and 0.34, respectively. A stress–strain relationship of the fabricated portable pressure pump represented a linear behavior in the compressive strain range of 0 to 20%. Within this range, a pumping volume of the pressure pump could be linearly controlled by the compressed strain. Finally, the fabricated porous PDMS pump was successfully demonstrated as a portable pressure pump for a disposable microfluidic lab-on-a-chip for efficient detection of agglutination. The proposed portable pressure pump can be potentially applicable to various disposable microfluidic lab-on-a-chip systems.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2010–0027580). Finally, in memory of Prof. T. H. Kwon. His insights and enthusiasm for research will be missed by his colleagues, his optimism, confidence, and passion will be missed by his students. But most of all, we will all miss his warm smile and big heart.
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Cha, K.J., Kim, D.S. A portable pressure pump for microfluidic lab-on-a-chip systems using a porous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sponge. Biomed Microdevices 13, 877–883 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-011-9557-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-011-9557-z