A simple sealing device based on capillary force

Anal Sci. 2022 Feb;38(2):451-455. doi: 10.2116/analsci.21N035. Epub 2022 Mar 22.

Abstract

Sealing is one of the important technologies of a self-driving microfluidic chip. To achieve a better sealing effect, a sealing device based on capillary force is proposed in this paper. The device is composed of a cover plate, a partition plate and a bottom plate; the surface of the microchannel is flat. The liquid is sealed by the capillary force, and is driven by the capillary force to realize spontaneous sealing and driving. The experimental results show that the device can achieve a very good sealing effect when the hydrophilicity is not strong. And because the influence of the sidewall on the flow is reduced, the experimental repeatability is good. The present work has improved the performance of the microchip driven by the capillary force, which will be useful for easy and useful analytical tools using micro-spaces.

Keywords: Capillary force; Microfluidic chip; Sealing.

MeSH terms

  • Gravitation*
  • Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
  • Microfluidics*