Abstract
Microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (µPADs) have provided a breakthrough in portable and low-cost point-of-care diagnostics. Despite their significant scope, the complexity of fabrication and reliance on expensive and sophisticated tools, have limited their outreach and possibility of commercialization. Herein, we report for the first time, a facile method to fabricate µPADs using a commonly available laser printer which drastically reduces the cost and complexity of fabrication. Toner ink is used to pattern the µPADs by printing, without modifying any factory configuration of the laser printer. Hydrophobic barriers are created by heating the patterned paper which melts the toner ink, facilitating its wicking into the cross-section of the substrate. Further, we demonstrate the utilization of the fabricated device by performing two assays. The proposed technique provides a versatile platform for rapid prototyping of µPADs with significant prospect in both developed and resource constrained region.
Highlights
The potential to transform paper into smart microfluidic chips has given way to a number of fluidic applications, involving clinical diagnosis[1,2,3,4], cell biology[5,6], drug screening[7,8] environmental monitoring[9,10,11], and food safety analysis[12,13,14,15]
The devices were fabricated by two simple steps as shown in Fig. 1a – printing the desired pattern using a laser printer and heating the printed paper to melt the toner ink into the capillary network of the substrate
The original toner ink which forms the basis of the hydrophobic barrier, contains a number of components such as styrene acrylate resin (
Summary
The potential to transform paper into smart microfluidic chips has given way to a number of fluidic applications, involving clinical diagnosis[1,2,3,4], cell biology[5,6], drug screening[7,8] environmental monitoring[9,10,11], and food safety analysis[12,13,14,15]. One key aspect that has prevented the successful commercialization of microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (μPADs) is the utilization of sophisticated and uncommon tools that require substantial technological intervention and human expertise for their manufacture[19,20]. This has caused the field to lag in terms of ease of scale-up and commercialization, even after completing more than a decade since the inception of the first μPAD conceptualized for portable diagnostics by Whitesides and co-workers[21]. The versatility and simplicity of the fabrication technique described will lead to its wide spread adoption in both developed and resource-constrained settings
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