On-chip fast mixing by a rotary peristaltic micropump with a single structural layer

Abstract

In this work, a rotary pump based micromixer for on-chip rapid mixing and liquid transportation is demonstrated and characterized. Both pumping and mixing are realized using a microfluidic chip with a single structural polydimethylsiloxane layer and a portable electric control system. The rotary pump consists of an annular channel and is driven by a motor and magnets. The flow field caused by the peristaltic movement of the channel membrane of the rotary pump is simulated and analyzed. By statistically calculating and comparing the normalized standard deviations of the flow velocity components in a microchannel, it is revealed that up-and-down mixing is the fastest, followed by segment mixing and parallel mixing. Two mixing styles, segment mixing and parallel mixing, were experimentally demonstrated using the chip. The pump achieved 90% of the mixing index in 1 s for the segment mixing type. As for the parallel mixing type, the mixing index was up to 90% after 5 s, which is more than 100-fold improvement compared to conventional mixing by interfacial diffusion. The mixing speeds in both directions were improved prominently by increasing the rotational speed of the pump.