Mesoporous silicon-based miniature fuel cells for nomadic and chip-scale systems

We report here the fabrication of a new miniature fuel cell for nomadic applications and chip-scale power supply based on a Nafion^®-filled porous silicon self-supported membrane. Combining advantages of Nafion^® for its great proton conduction and silicon for an easier integration and standard microfabrication techniques, this solution enables the integration of gas feed and electrical contacts into the membrane etching process thanks to simple KOH wet etching processes and metal sputterings. The encapsulation is also possible. Compared to simple Nafion^® membranes, this technique may reduce the lateral water diffusion through the membrane. Experiments have been carried out at room temperature and gas feed H₂ is provided by the electrolysis of a NaOH solution. A long-term power density of 18 mW cm^?2 has been achieved after stabilization with a maximum current density of 101 mA cm^?2 and an open circuit voltage of 0.8 V.     

Fabrication of layered polydimethylsiloxane/perfluoropolyether microfluidic devices with solvent compatibility and valve functionality

The development of multilayer soft lithography methodology has seen polydimethysiloxane (PDMS) as the preferred material for the fabrication of microfluidic devices. However, the functionality of these PDMS microfluidic chips is often limited by the poor chemical resistance of PDMS to certain solvents. Here, we propose the use of a photocurable perfluoropolyether (PFPE), specifically FOMBLIN^® MD40 PFPE, as a candidate material to provide a solvent-resistant buffer layer to make the device substantially impervious to chemically induced swelling. We first carried out a systematic study of the solvent resistance properties of FOMBLIN^® MD40 PFPE as compared with PDMS. The comparison presented here demonstrates the superiority of FOMBLIN^® MD40 PFPE over PDMS in this regard; moreover, the results permitted to categorize solvents in four different groups depending on their swelling ratio. We then present a step-by-step recipe for a novel fabrication process that uses multilayer lithography to construct a comprehensive solvent-resistant device with fluid and control channels integrated with a valve structure and also permitting easy establishment of outside connections.     

Modular membrane valves for universal integration within thermoplastic devices

While much research has been conducted on elastomeric valves within PDMS microfluidic devices, we rarely see scalable manufacturing processes for integrating such valves into rigid thermoplastic devices. Most thermoplastic materials do not share intrinsic bonding compatibility to flexible elastomer membranes, making it difficult to ensure leak-proof operation of such valves within thermoplastic devices. In order to overcome bonding compatibility issues, we propose decoupling the valve architecture from the fluidic routing device layers. This can be achieved by prefabricating modular valves via molding processes and subsequently inserting them into thermoplastic layers containing valve seats. Thermoplastic layers containing modular valves are then thermally bonded to thermoplastic layers containing the fluidic routing channels, resulting in leak-proof valve integration. At valve actuation pressures of approximately 60 kPa, the modular membrane valves seal fluidic channels operating at a flow rate of 100 µl min^?1. Modular valves that were incorporated into a concentration gradient generator demonstrated dynamically configurable fluid routing at a response frequency of 5 Hz. The integration of modular membrane valves is an effective solution to streamline and cost-down the manufacturing of hybrid elastomer–thermoplastic devices. As this solution does not rely on bonding compatibility between the elastomeric membranes and the thermoplastic device, it can be applied universally to solve integration issues for low-cost thermoplastic device fabrication.     

Analysis of electro-active polymer bending: A component in a low cost ultrathin scanning endoscope

The development of a low-cost active tip bending system for a scanning fiber endoscope or catheterscope has been initiated and proof-of-concept fabrication and testing have been conducted. The actuator material chosen for the design is an ionic conductive polymer metal composites (IPMC) type electro-active polymer (EAP). IPMC materials are inexpensive, especially in small sizes required for ultrathin scopes, allowing the possibility of an active-bending mechanism for the single-use endoscope. The charge and the strain distribution across the 200 μm thick membrane are simulated using finite element analysis (FEA). The deformation results from the numerical analysis agree within 8.5% error of the experimental outcome. An IPMC strip actuator made from a Nafion^® membrane and a platinum-plating recipe is developed. The generative force of the actuator is measured and demonstrated to be sufficient to lift the rigid tip of the scanning fiber endoscope. Therefore, this IPMC material is a candidate to be used as a low-cost active bending mechanism for the ultrathin scanning fiber endoscopes and future catheterscopes.     

Recent developments in MEMS-based miniature fuel cells

Micro fuel cells (μ-FCs) represent promising power sources for portable applications. Today, one of the technological ways to make μ-FCs is to have recourse to standard microfabrication techniques used in the fabrication of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). This paper shows an overview on the applications of MEMS techniques on miniature FCs by presenting several solutions developed throughout the world. It also describes the latest developments of a new porous silicon-based miniature fuel cell. Using a silane grafted on an inorganic porous media as the proton-exchange membrane instead of a common ionomer such as Nafion^®, the fuel cell achieved a maximum power density of 58 mW cm^?2 at room temperature with hydrogen as fuel.     

Fast replication of out-of-plane microlens with polydimethylsiloxane and curable polymer (NOA73)

Out-of-plane microlens, as its in-plane counterpart, is an important micro optics component that can be used in building integrated micro-optic systems for many applications. In earlier publications from our group, an ultra violet (UV) lithography based technique for out-of-plane microlens fabrication was reported. In this paper, we report a replication technology for time-efficient fabrication of out-of-plane microlens made of a curable polymer, NOA73. Microlens of cured SU-8 polymer was fabricated using a unique tilted UV lithography process, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was molded using the resulting SU-8 master to form a negative mold, curable polymer NOA73 was then casted in the PDMS mold and out-of-plane microlens replica made of NOA73 was finally obtained after curing. The entire replication process took less than 5 h. Since PDMS negative mold was reusable, multiple replications of the microlens could be done with the same mold and each replication only took about 30 min. Scanning electron microscopic (SEM) images showed that NOA73 microlens replica had almost identical shape as the SU-8 master. In Comparison to the SU-8 microlens, microlens replica of UV curable polymer had slightly longer focal length and smaller numerical aperture due to the lower refractive index of NOA73. In addition, NOA73 microlens replica also had improved spectral transmission. Because of its compatibility with soft lithography technique, the reported replication process may also be used to integrate out-of-plane microlens into micro-opto-electro-mechanical-systems (MOEMS) and BioMEMS chips.     

Low-cost polymer microfluidic device for on-chip extraction of bacterial DNA

A polymer microfluidic device for on-chip extraction of bacterial DNA has been developed for molecular diagnostics. In order to manufacture a low-cost, disposable microchip, micropillar arrays of high surface-to-volume ratio (0.152 μm⁻¹) were constructed on polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) by hot embossing with an electroformed Ni mold, and their surface was modified with SiO₂ and an organosilane compound in subsequent steps. To seal open microchannels, the organosilane layer on top plane of the micropillars was selectively removed through photocatalytic oxidation via TiO₂/UV treatment at room temperature. As a result, the underlying SiO₂ surface was exposed without deteriorating the organosilane layer coated on lateral surface of the micropillars that could serve as bacterial cell adhesion moiety. Afterwards, a plasma-treated PDMS substrate was bonded to the exposed SiO₂ surface, completing the device fabrication. To optimize manufacturing throughput and process integration, the whole fabrication process was performed at 6 inch wafer-level including polymer imprinting, organosilane coating, and bonding. Preparation of bacterial DNA was carried out with the fabricated PDMS/PMMA chip according to the following procedure: bacterial cell capture, washing, in situ lysis, and DNA elution. The polymer-based microchip presented here demonstrated similar performance to Glass/Si chip in terms of bacterial cell capture efficiency and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) compatibility.     

A simple and cost-effective method for fabrication of integrated electronic-microfluidic devices using a laser-patterned PDMS layer

We report a simple and cost-effective method for fabricating integrated electronic-microfluidic devices with multilayer configurations. A CO₂ laser plotter was employed to directly write patterns on a transferred polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layer, which served as both a bonding and a working layer. The integration of electronics in microfluidic devices was achieved by an alignment bonding of top and bottom electrode-patterned substrates fabricated with conventional lithography, sputtering and lift-off techniques. Processes of the developed fabrication method were illustrated. Major issues associated with this method as PDMS surface treatment and characterization, thickness-control of the transferred PDMS layer, and laser parameters optimization were discussed, along with the examination and testing of bonding with two representative materials (glass and silicon). The capability of this method was further demonstrated by fabricating a microfluidic chip with sputter-coated electrodes on the top and bottom substrates. The device functioning as a microparticle focusing and trapping chip was experimentally verified. It is confirmed that the proposed method has many advantages, including simple and fast fabrication process, low cost, easy integration of electronics, strong bonding strength, chemical and biological compatibility, etc.     

PDMS microfluidics developed for polymer based photonic biosensors

In this work, advances in the fabrication technology and functional analysis of a polymer microfluidic system—as a significant part of a developed polymer photonic biosensor—are reported. Robust and cost-effective microfluidics in PDMS including sample preparation functions is designed and realized by using SU-8 moulding replica. Surface modification strategies using Triton X-100 and PDMS-PEO and their effect on device sealing and non-specific protein adsorption are investigated by contact angle measurement and in situ fluorescence microscopy.     

Arrays of high aspect ratio magnetic microstructures for large trapping throughput in lab-on-chip systems

Here we report a novel technology to obtain arrays of highly efficient magnetic micro-traps that relies on simple fabrication process. Developed micro-traps consist in chains of iron particles diluted in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). We analyzed the microstructure of the composite membrane by X-ray tomography. It revealed the predominance of aligned chain-like agglomerates. Largest traps, with diameter ranging from 4 to 11 µm, are found to be the most efficient. The trap arrays were characterized by a density of 1300 magnetic micro-traps/mm², an average nearest neighbor distance of 21 µm. Implemented in a microfluidic channel operating at a relatively high flow rate of 0.97 µL/s—a flow velocity of 8.3 mm/s—we measured a trapping efficiency of more than 99.7%, with a throughput of up to 7100 trapped beads/min. These performances are competitive with other approaches like hydrodynamic trapping. The strengths of this technology are its simple fabrication and easy handling.     

Stamp-and-stick room-temperature bonding technique for microdevices

Multilayer MEMS and microfluidic designs using diverse materials demand separate fabrication of device components followed by assembly to make the final device. Structural and moving components, labile bio-molecules, fluids and temperature-sensitive materials place special restrictions on the bonding processes that can be used for assembly of MEMS devices. We describe a room temperature "stamp and stick (SAS)" transfer bonding technique for silicon, glass and nitride surfaces using a UV curable adhesive. Alternatively, poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) can also be used as the adhesive; this is particularly useful for bonding PDMS devices. A thin layer of adhesive is first spun on a flat wafer. This adhesive layer is then selectively transferred to the device chip from the wafer using a stamping process. The device chip can then be aligned and bonded to other chips/wafers. This bonding process is conformal and works even on surfaces with uneven topography. This aspect is especially relevant to microfluidics, where good sealing can be difficult to obtain with channels on uneven surfaces. Burst pressure tests suggest that wafer bonds using the UV curable adhesive could withstand pressures of 700 kPa (7 atmospheres); those with PDMS could withstand 200 to 700 kPa (2-7 atmospheres) depending on the geometry and configuration of the device.     

Design and fabrication of microfluidic devices integrated with an open‐ended MEMS probe for single‐cell impedance measurement

When an electrical current with a low frequency is applied to a cell, the current passes through the outside of the cell. Thus, impedance measurements at low frequencies cannot be used to determine the pathological change of the cellular organelle taking place inside the cell. However, increasing the frequency of the electrical current makes the capacitive impedance of the cell decrease, allowing the electrical current to flow through the cell. This study presents the design and fabrication of a microfluidic device integrated with a coplanar waveguide open-ended micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) probe for the impedance measurement of the single HeLa cell in frequencies between 1 MHz and 1 GHz. The device includes a poly-dimethlysiloxane (PDMS) cover with a microchannel and microstructures to capture the single HeLa cell and a conductor-backed CPW fabricated using a silicon chip and two printed circuit boards (PCB). The effects of the substrate on the characteristic impedance of the conductor-backed coplanar waveguide (CBCPW) structure were investigated under three conditions by utilizing a time-domain reflectometer (TDR). Finally, impedance measurements using the proposed device and a vector network analyzer (VNA) are demonstrated for de-ionized (DI) water, alcohol, PBS, and a single HeLa cell.     

Leakage current in a Si-based nanopore structure and its influence on noise characteristics

We have measured leakage current in a silicon substrate-based nanopore membrane device immersed in an aqueous environment which typically shows the current level of few nA. This current level is compared with the measured current density (400 nA/cm² at 1 V) from the pristine Si wafer (p-type, 10¹⁶/cm³ boron doping) indicating that the exposed Si surface in a nanopore membrane device acts as an electrochemical reaction site. The leakage current is drastically reduced from >10 nA to <100 pA at 1 V by the deposition of a dielectric layer to the Si-based nanopore membrane device. We also noted that the root-mean-square noise of the ionic current is also reduced from 38 to 28 pA in correlation with the reduction of leakage current, indicating that electrochemical reaction provides one of the major sources of noise.     

Embedding off-the-shelf filter in PDMS chip for microbe sampling

Filtration for microfluidic sample-collection devices is desirable for sample selection, concentration, preprocessing, and manipulation, but microfabricating the required sub-micrometer structures is an elaborate process. This article presents a simple method to integrate filters in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) devices to sample microorganisms in aqueous environments. An off-the-shelf membrane filter with 0.22-μm pores was embedded in a PDMS layer and sequentially bound with other PDMS channel layers. No leakage was observed during filtration. This device was validated by concentrating a large amount of biomass, from 15 × 10⁷ to 3 × 10⁸ cells/ml of cyanobacterium Synechocystis in simulated sample water with consistent performance across devices. The major advantages of this method are low cost, simple design, straightforward fabrication, and robust performance, enabling wide-utility of chip-based devices for field-deployable operations in environmental microbiology.     

Zone electrophoresis of proteins in poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microchip coated with physically adsorbed amphiphilic phospholipid polymer

The zone electrophoresis of protein in poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microchip coated with the physically adsorbed amphiphilic phospholipid polymer (PMMSi) was investigated. PMMSi was composed of 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) and 3-(methacryloyloxy) propyltris (trimethylsiloxy) silane (MPTSSi) units in a random fashion. The membrane of PMMSi can be formed on the PDMS surface by a simple and quick dip-coating method. The membrane showed high hydrophilicity and good stability in water, as determined by contact angle measurement, fourier-transformed infrared absorption by attenuated total reflection (ATR-FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. High suppression of protein adsorption to the PDMS surface and reduction in electroosmotic flow (EOF) were achieved by PMMSi coating due to an increase of hydrophilicity, and a decrease of the ζ-potential on the surface of PDMS. For zone electrophoresis, the PMMSi30 containing 30 % hydrophilic MPC was the most suitable molecular design in terms of the stability of the coated membrane on PDMS surface. The average value of EOF mobility of PDMS microchip coated with PMMSi30 was 1.4 × 10^?4 cm² V^?1 s^?1, and the RSD was 4.1 %. Zone electrophoresis of uranine was further demonstrated with high repeatability and reproducibility. Separation of two FITC-labeled proteins (BSA and insulin) was performed with high efficiency and resolution compared with non-treated PDMS microchip.     

A Piezoactuated Droplet-Dispensing Microfluidic Chip

A microfluidic dispensing device that is capable of generating droplets with volumes varying between 1 nL and 50 pL at an ejection frequency of up to 6 kHz is presented. In this device, a piezoactuator pushes onto an elastic membrane via piston tips; the mechanical bending of the membrane generates a pressure pulse pushing droplets out. An analytical model was developed solving bending characteristics of a plate-actuated fluidic dispensing system and used to calculate the displaced volume. The model was extended to perform stress analysis to find the optimum piston tip radius by minimizing design stresses. The optimum piston tip radius was found to be 67% of the chamber radius. The actuation force estimated using the analytical model was then used as input to a finite element model of the dispenser. A detailed numerical analysis was then performed to model the fluid flow and droplet ejection process and to find critical geometric and operating parameters. Results from both models were used together to find the best design parameters. The device contains three layers, a silicon layer sandwiched between two polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer layers. Silicon dry etching, together with PDMS soft lithography, was used to fabricate the chip. PDMS oxygen plasma bonding is used to bond the layers. Prototypes developed were successfully tested to dispense same-sized droplets repeatedly without unwanted droplets. The design allows easy expansion and simultaneous dispensing of fluids.$hfill$[2009-0099]      

Paper-based digital microfluidics

In this paper, a new fabrication method for digital microfluidics is proposed. In which, paper, graphite, and adhesive tape are used as substrate, electrodes, and dielectric layer, respectively. The graphite is sprayed over a template on the paper substrate. Two different water repellants are used as the hydrophobic layer, which replace with expensive materials such as Teflon-AF^®. The paper substrate is low cost, available, and flexible. The proposed device is disposable, and its fabrication procedure is simple, fast, and low cost which allows creation of a new device for each individual experiment. Therefore, problems such as adsorption and dielectric breakdown will not occur in this type of digital microfluidics. This device can perform two types of droplet operations, merging and moving on droplets in volumes of 15–50 μL.     

Reversible surface modification of polydimethylsiloxane film for stretchable display

A polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film is the most widely used elastomeric substrate for stretchable electronic devices. However, it is difficult to directly deposit a metal layer on the PDMS film because many defects such as cracks and wrinkles in the metal layer form too easily. This problem can be addressed by modifying the film surface rigidly through some surface oxidation processes. However, this rigid surface should be removed after the fabrication process is completed because the surface may induce lots of cracks on the PDMS film when the fabricated stretchable electronic device is used in a stretching state. In this study, a wet etching process using a buffered HF (BHF) solution is used to effectively remove the rigid surfaceformed on the PDMS film and to dramatically reduce the crack lines formed after the PDMS film stretching. Hence, areversible process for controlling the mechanical properties of the PDMS film surface was established. According tosome analysis results, the rigid surface formed by UV ozone exposure on the PDMS film was found to have apolysiloxane network structure including more silicon atoms bound to three oxygens, and the surface etched by BHFsolution was found to be recovered to the similar structure with that of the PDMS film.     

Fabrication and characterization of a passive silicon-based direct methanol fuel cell

This paper reports on the fabrication and characterization of a passive silicon microfabricated direct methanol fuel cell (μDMFC). The main characteristics of the device are its capability to work without complex pumping systems, only by capillary pressure, and the fact that its performance is not affected by the device orientation. A simple fabrication process based in deep reactive ion etching (DRIE), allows obtaining a reliable and low-cost final device. The device consists of two silicon microfabricated plates mounted together with a commercial membrane electrode assembly (MEA). The impact of current collector design on microfuel cell performance is explored and current–voltage (I–V) and current–power (I–P) curves of the device at different methanol concentration and orientation are presented. Optimal performance was obtained for methanol concentrations between 3 and 5 M, achieving a maximum power density of 12 mW/cm². The results obtained in this work demonstrate the feasibility of the device and give a guideline for design and conditions optimization.     

Development of a low cost hybrid Si/PDMS multi-layered pneumatic microvalve

We report on the design and fabrication of a low cost active microvalve with a soft elastomer membrane driven by pneumatic actuation. The valve was made in two separate parts, a fluidic part in biocompatible and optically transparent material (PDMS) and a robust pneumatic interface in silicon, which were assembled together. The main issue of alignment and localized selective bonding of the PDMS parts to preserve the membrane mobility, hence the valving function, is described. In this work we also investigated two types of silicon moulds for PDMS casting, made by KOH anisotropic wet etching or DRIE.