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Step-by-step : A microfluidic (PDMS) staircase device for size sorting microparticles down to 25 µm using a 3D-printed mold
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Researchers developed a microfluidic PDMS staircase device fabricated from consumer-grade 3D-printed moulds that uses height features rather than lateral elements to size-sort microparticles down to 25 µm. The device successfully sorted Schistosoma haematobium parasite eggs, microplastics, and zooplankton samples, offering a simpler and more accessible alternative to conventional microfluidic fabrication for microparticle research.
Microparticles are ubiquitous and span from living matter to microplastics to inorganic materials. Their detection and identification must be more accessible and time efficient. Microfluidic devices can filter microparticles from liquids, but fabricating microfluidics with lateral resolutions of a few tens of microns is complex, lengthy, and outside the reach of most scientists researching microparticles. In this article, we show how to use height features in a channel instead of relying on lateral elements for separating particles. The height features can be as small as 25 µm, along the Z axis, using consumer-grade 3D printers. We show the potential of such microfluidic devices for size-sorting parasite eggs such as Schistosoma haematobium, microplastics, and zooplankton.
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Step-by-step : A microfluidic (PDMS) staircase device for size sorting microparticles down to 25 µm using a 3D-printed mold
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers designed a simple microfluidic device using a 3D-printed staircase mold to sort microparticles by size down to 25 µm. The device is inexpensive and accessible to researchers without specialized microfabrication equipment. Size-sorting tools like this could help standardize microplastic extraction and analysis from liquid samples.
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Researchers designed and tested a stereolithography 3D-printed microfluidic device with impedance spectroscopy electrodes for detecting microplastic particles in drinking water, demonstrating a low-cost fabrication approach for continuous microplastic monitoring systems.
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Researchers developed a centrifugal microfluidic chip that can sort and detect microplastics smaller than 63 micrometers by separating them into different size groups based on spinning forces. The chip achieved about 87% capture rate for polystyrene microspheres and also worked well with irregularly shaped microplastics. This technology offers a faster, more accurate, and simpler alternative to traditional membrane filtration for analyzing tiny microplastics in environmental samples.
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Researchers designed a microfluidic device that separates microplastics and microalgae by size using controlled flow patterns. The device could be used to isolate microplastics from complex environmental water samples containing biological material, improving the accuracy of microplastic monitoring.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.