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Office of Undergraduate Research Home » 2025 Undergraduate Research Symposium Schedules

Found 1 project

Poster Presentation 2

12:30 PM to 1:30 PM
Optimizing Surface Properties and Geometries for Capillary Microfluidic Devices Produced on LCD 3D Printers
Presenters
  • Zoe Vanessa (Zoe) Blumenkranz, Senior, Materials Science & Engineering
  • Mark Fernandez, Senior, Mechanical Engineering
Mentor
  • Ayokunle Olanrewaju, Bioengineering
Session
    Poster Presentation Session 2
  • CSE
  • Easel #184
  • 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM

  • Other students mentored by Ayokunle Ayokunle Olanrewaju (1)
Optimizing Surface Properties and Geometries for Capillary Microfluidic Devices Produced on LCD 3D Printersclose

Capillary microfluidics capitalize on surface tension effects encoded in microchannel geometry and chemistry to transfer liquids without external instruments - making them a user-friendly technology for point-of-care tests. For most applications, hydrophilic surfaces (contact angle < 90˚) are necessary to induce surface tension driven flow. Currently, vacuum plasma chambers that alter surface chemistry achieve this. Unfortunately, hydrophilic properties made with plasma processing are temporary, costly, and unstable. An inherently stable hydrophilic 3D-printing resin containing polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) and acrylic acid (AA) was developed for capillary microfluidics [1]. Similarly, our group has also optimized printing parameters for resins containing PEGDA and Lithium phenyl-2,4,6-trimethylbenzoylphosphinate (LAP) that are inherently porous, hydrophilic, and have applications for development of engineered living materials (ELMs) [2]. Our objective was to optimize and validate 3D printing parameters and geometries for both resins using a range of liquid crystal display (LCD) printers. Our proof-of-concept prints for the PEGDA-AA resin had average contact angle measurements of 42.8 ± 8.77°. Percent differences between designed and printed channel lengths, widths, and depths were 31.5 ± 0.23%, 28.9 ± 3.41%, and 2.40 ± 13.9% respectively. Additionally, we have demonstrated the feasibility of autonomous flow of fluids in the PEGDA-LAP resin with coefficients of variations (CVs) of <5% for microchannels of widths ≥ 137.6 µm. By exploring innovative resins, we increase accessibility and capability for rapid and inexpensive prototyping of microfluidics to be applied to diagnostic tests. These methods reduce costs and carbon footprints relative to traditional additive manufacturing methods.


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