Device and method for preparing electrospinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip
Technical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of micro-fluidic chip preparation, in particular to a device and a method for preparing an electro-spinning direct-writing multilayer micro-fluidic chip.
The micro-fluidic chip is a micro total analysis system which integrates a micro pipeline, a micro pump, a micro valve, a micro liquid storage device, a micro electrode, a micro detection element, a window, a connector and other parts or all functional components on a chip material like an integrated circuit through a micro processing technology. Compared with the traditional analytical instrument, the micro-fluidic chip has the advantages of high efficiency, simple and convenient operation, low cost and the like, is widely applied to various fields of medical analysis, biochemistry, environmental monitoring and the like and achieves good effects.
Conventional methods for preparing microfluidic chips include photolithography (patent CN 201810054932.2), molding (patent CN 201410149225.3), and the like. The photoetching machine used in the photoetching process is expensive and complex to operate; the molding method needs to prepare a mold in advance, needs to turn the mold in the manufacturing process, has complex manufacturing procedures, and influences the precision and the surface quality of a product during demolding. And the traditional method for preparing the microfluidic chip also needs packaging in the later stage, so that the problems of poor sealing, leakage and the like exist.
Disclosure of Invention
This section is for the purpose of summarizing some aspects of embodiments of the invention and to briefly introduce some preferred embodiments. In this section, as well as in the abstract and the title of the invention of this application, simplifications or omissions may be made to avoid obscuring the purpose of the section, the abstract and the title, and such simplifications or omissions are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
The present invention has been made in view of the above and/or other problems occurring in the prior art microfluidic chip manufacturing processes.
Therefore, the invention aims to provide the device and the method for preparing the electrospinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip, which have the advantages of simple and convenient process, capability of preparing the multilayer microfluidic chip at one time, no need of later-stage packaging, good chip sealing performance and high precision.
To solve the above technical problem, according to an aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides the following technical solutions:
an electro-spinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip preparation device, comprising:
the left spraying unit is provided with a left spraying head which sprays liquid to form jet flow whip and deposits a spiral shape on the substrate;
an intermediate ejection unit having an intermediate ejection head that ejects liquid divergence and covers the substrate surface;
a right spraying unit having a right nozzle for spraying a liquid to deposit a straight line on the substrate;
and the curing unit is divided into a driving power supply, a left heater and a right heater which are respectively electrically connected with the driving power supply, the left heater is positioned between the left spray head and the middle spray head, and the right heater is positioned between the middle spray head and the right spray head.
As a preferable scheme of the electrospinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip preparation device, the left injection unit further comprises a left liquid storage tank, a left solution pump communicated with the liquid outlet end of the left liquid storage tank, and a left high-voltage power supply electrically connected with the left spray head, and the liquid inlet end of the left solution pump is communicated with the liquid outlet end of the left solution pump.
As a preferable scheme of the electrospinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip preparation device according to the present invention, the intermediate injection unit further includes an intermediate liquid storage tank, an intermediate solution pump communicated with the liquid outlet end of the intermediate liquid storage tank, and an intermediate high voltage power supply electrically connected to the intermediate nozzle, and a liquid inlet end of the intermediate solution pump is communicated with the liquid outlet end of the intermediate solution pump.
As a preferable scheme of the electrospinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip preparation device, the right injection unit further comprises a right liquid storage tank, a right solution pump communicated with the liquid outlet end of the right liquid storage tank, and a right high-voltage power supply electrically connected with the right nozzle, and the liquid inlet end of the right solution pump is communicated with the liquid outlet end of the right solution pump.
As a preferable scheme of the electrospinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip preparation device, the left nozzle and the right nozzle are made of conductive materials, and the inner diameter range of the left nozzle and the right nozzle is 45-1200 mu m.
As a preferable scheme of the electrospinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip preparation device, the left nozzle and the right nozzle are wrapped by electrostatic protection covers.
A preparation method of an electrospinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip comprises the following specific steps:
placing a substrate on a left-right reciprocating motion platform, placing the left end of the substrate under a middle spray head, moving the substrate leftwards along with the left-right reciprocating motion platform, simultaneously spraying PDMS jet flow to cover the substrate by the middle spray head, stopping liquid supply by the middle spray head when the right end of the substrate is moved out of the position below the middle spray head, continuously moving the substrate leftwards along with the left-right reciprocating motion platform, and curing the PDMS jet flow on the surface of the substrate under the action of illumination and heating of a left heater;
the substrate moves rightwards along with the left-right reciprocating motion platform in a reverse direction, when the right end of the substrate reaches the position right below the left spray head, the left spray head sprays PEO solution to form spirally-loaded spinning solution on the surface of the substrate, and when the left end of the substrate moves out of the position below the left spray head, the left spray head stops supplying liquid;
the substrate continues to move rightwards along with the left-right reciprocating motion platform, when the substrate passes below the left heater, the spirally-loaded spinning solution on the surface of the substrate is solidified on the surface of the substrate under the action of illumination and heating of the left heater;
the substrate continues to move rightwards along with the left-right reciprocating motion platform, when the right end of the substrate moves to the position below the middle nozzle, PDMS jet flow sprayed by the middle nozzle covers the solidified PEO solution and the substrate to form a layered structure, and the middle nozzle stops spraying until the left end of the substrate moves out of the position below the middle nozzle;
the substrate continuously moves rightwards, the PDMS solution covering the cured PEO solution and the surface of the substrate moves to the lower part of a right heater along with the movement of the substrate, and the PDMS covering layer is cured under the heating action of the right heater;
the substrate continuously moves to the right to the position below the right nozzle, the right nozzle sprays to form an electrospinning jet flow, the jet flow is made to directly write and deposit on the solidified middle PDMS covering layer, and when the left end of the substrate moves out of the position below the right nozzle, the right nozzle stops supplying liquid;
the left-right reciprocating motion platform drives the substrate to move leftwards and reversely, when the left end of the substrate moves to the position below the right heater, the direct-writing jet flow is solidified, when the left end of the substrate moves to the position below the middle spray head again, the middle spray head sprays PDMS jet flow again to cover the solidified direct-writing jet flow to form a layered structure, when the right end of the substrate moves out of the position below the middle spray head, the middle spray head stops supplying liquid, and when the covered PDMS solution moves to the position below the left heater along with the substrate, the PDMS solution is solidified to form an upper PDMS covering layer;
and (4) taking down the substrate (H), and milling off the cured PEO layer to form the microfluidic chip with the three-layer PDMS structure.
As a preferable scheme of the preparation method of the electrospinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip, the method for spraying the PEO solution by the left nozzle is as follows: and the PEO solution in the left liquid storage tank is conveyed to the left spray head by the left solution pump and is sprayed from the left spray head.
As a preferable scheme of the preparation method of the electrospinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip, the method for spraying the PDMS solution by the intermediate nozzle is as follows: and the intermediate solution pump conveys the PDMS solution in the intermediate storage tank to the intermediate spray head and sprays the PDMS solution from the intermediate spray head.
As a preferable scheme of the preparation method of the electrospinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip, the method for spraying the PEO solution by the right nozzle is as follows: and the PEO solution in the right liquid storage tank is conveyed to the right spray head by the right solution pump and is sprayed from the right spray head.
Compared with the prior art, the invention has the beneficial effects that: the method comprises the steps of utilizing a stable motion stage of spinning jet flow to deposit ordered nanofibers, sequentially spraying the surfaces of substrates through the matching of a left spray head, a middle spray head, a right spray head and a curing unit to form a PDMS covering layer, a spiral PEO covering layer, a PDMS covering layer, a linear PEO covering layer and an upper PDMS covering layer, then milling the PEO covering layer to further form the micro-fluidic chip of a specific channel, and preparing the multi-layer micro-fluidic chip at one time.
Drawings
In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and detailed embodiments, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings without inventive exercise. Wherein:
FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an electrospinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip preparation device according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the left spray head spraying state of the electrospinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip preparation device according to the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the middle nozzle of the electrospinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip preparation device according to the present invention in a spraying state;
fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of the right nozzle spraying state of the electrospinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip preparation device of the invention.
Detailed Description
In order to make the aforementioned objects, features and advantages of the present invention comprehensible, embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.
Next, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings, wherein for convenience of illustration, the cross-sectional view of the device structure is not enlarged partially according to the general scale, and the drawings are only examples, which should not limit the scope of the present invention. In addition, the three-dimensional dimensions of length, width and depth should be included in the actual fabrication.
In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The invention provides a device and a method for preparing an electrospinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip, which have the advantages of simple and convenient process, capability of preparing the multilayer microfluidic chip at one time, no need of later-stage packaging, good chip sealing performance and high precision.
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an overall structure of an electrospinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, and referring to fig. 1, a main body of the electrospinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip manufacturing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a left injection unit 100, a middle injection unit 200, a right injection unit 300, and a solidification unit 400.
In the present embodiment, the left spray unit 100 further includes a left liquid storage tank 120, a left solution pump 130 connected to the liquid outlet end of the left liquid storage tank 120, and a left high voltage power supply 140 electrically connected to the left spray head 110, wherein a liquid inlet end of the left solution pump 130 is connected to the liquid outlet end of the left solution pump 130, the left solution pump 130 conveys the PEO solution in the left liquid storage tank 120 to the left spray head 110 and sprays the PEO solution from the left spray head 110, referring to fig. 2, the left spray head 110 and the left high voltage power supply 140 form a high voltage electric field between the left spray head 110 and the substrate H, and the solution sprayed from the left spray head 110 is deposited on the substrate H under the action of the electric field.
In the present embodiment, the intermediate spraying unit 200 further includes an intermediate liquid storage tank 220, an intermediate solution pump 230 connected to the liquid outlet end of the intermediate liquid storage tank 220, and an intermediate high voltage power supply 240 electrically connected to the intermediate spraying head 210, wherein the liquid inlet end of the intermediate solution pump 230 is connected to the liquid outlet end of the intermediate solution pump 230, the intermediate solution pump 230 delivers the PDMS solution in the intermediate liquid storage tank 220 to the intermediate spraying head 210 and sprays the PDMS solution from the intermediate spraying head 210, and referring to fig. 3, the intermediate spraying head 210 and the intermediate high voltage power supply 240 form a high voltage electric field between the intermediate spraying head 210 and the substrate H, and the solution sprayed from the intermediate spraying head 210 is deposited on the substrate H under the action of the electric field.
The right spraying unit 300 has a right spraying head 310, the right spraying head 310 sprays liquid to deposit a straight line on the substrate H, in this embodiment, the right spraying unit 300 further includes a right liquid storage tank 320, a right solution pump 330 communicated with the liquid outlet end of the right liquid storage tank 320, and a right high voltage power supply 340 electrically connected with the right spraying head 310, the liquid inlet end of the right solution pump 330 is communicated with the liquid outlet end of the right solution pump 330, and the right spraying head 210 sprays the PEO solution by the following method: referring to fig. 4 together, the right nozzle 110 and the right high voltage power source 340 form a high voltage electric field between the right nozzle 310 and the substrate H, and the solution sprayed from the right nozzle 310 is deposited on the substrate H under the action of the electric field.
The curing unit 400 is divided into a driving power source 410, a left heater 420 and a right heater 430 respectively electrically connected to the driving power source 410, wherein the left heater 420 is located between the left showerhead 110 and the middle showerhead 210, the right heater 430 is located between the middle showerhead 210 and the right showerhead 310 for promoting curing of liquid ejected from the showerheads, and in the present embodiment, the left heater 420 and the right heater 430 are made of UV curing lamps.
In this embodiment, the left nozzle 110 and the right nozzle 310 are made of conductive material, the inner diameter ranges from 45 μm to 1200 μm, and the left nozzle 110 and the right nozzle 310 are wrapped with electrostatic protection covers.
The invention also provides a preparation method of the electrospinning direct-writing multilayer microfluidic chip, which comprises the following specific steps:
placing a substrate H on a left-right reciprocating motion platform, placing the left end of the substrate H under an intermediate spray head 210, moving the substrate H leftwards along with the left-right reciprocating motion platform, simultaneously spraying PDMS jet flow onto the surface of the substrate H by the intermediate spray head 210, stopping liquid supply by the intermediate spray head 210 when the right end of the substrate H is moved out of the position below the intermediate spray head 210, continuously moving the substrate H leftwards along with the left-right reciprocating motion platform, and solidifying the PDMS jet flow on the surface of the substrate H under the action of illumination and heating of a left heater 420;
the substrate H moves rightwards along with the left-right reciprocating motion platform in a reverse direction, when the right end of the substrate H reaches the position right below the left spray head 110, the left spray head 110 sprays PEO solution to form spirally-contained spinning solution on the surface of the substrate H, and when the left end of the substrate H moves out of the position below the left spray head, the left spray head 110 stops supplying liquid, wherein the PEO solution spraying method of the left spray head 110 is as follows: the left solution pump 130 delivers the PEO solution in the left tank 120 to the left spray head 110 and sprays it from the left spray head 110.
The substrate H continues to move rightwards along with the left-right reciprocating motion platform, when the substrate H passes below the left heater 420, the spirally-arranged spinning solution on the surface of the substrate H is solidified on the surface of the substrate H under the action of illumination and heating of the left heater 420;
the substrate H continues to move rightwards along with the left-right reciprocating motion platform, when the right end of the substrate H moves to the position below the middle spray head 210, PDMS jet flow sprayed by the middle spray head 210 covers the solidified PEO solution and the substrate H to form a layered structure, and the middle spray head 210 stops spraying until the left end of the substrate H moves out of the position below the middle spray head 210, wherein the method for spraying the PDMS solution by the middle spray head 210 is as follows: the intermediate solution pump 230 delivers the PDMS solution in the intermediate tank 220 to the intermediate nozzle 210 and sprays the PDMS solution from the intermediate nozzle 210.
The substrate H continues to move rightwards, the PDMS solution covering the surface of the cured PEO solution and the substrate H moves to the lower part of the right heater 430 along with the movement of the substrate H, and the PDMS covering layer is formed by curing under the heating action of the right heater 430;
the substrate H continues moving to the right below the right nozzle 310, the right nozzle 310 sprays to form an electrospinning jet flow, the jet flow is made to directly write and deposit on the solidified middle PDMS covering layer, when the left end of the substrate H moves out of the right nozzle 310, the right nozzle 310 stops supplying liquid, wherein, the right nozzle 210 sprays PEO solution by the following method: the right solution pump 230 delivers the PEO solution in the right tank 220 to the right nozzle 210 and sprays it from the right nozzle 210.
The left-right reciprocating motion platform drives the substrate H to move leftwards and reversely, when the left end of the substrate H moves to the position below the right heater 430, the direct-writing jet flow is solidified, when the left end of the substrate H moves to the position below the middle sprayer 210 again, the middle sprayer 210 sprays PDMS jet flow again to cover the solidified direct-writing jet flow to form a layered structure, when the right end of the substrate moves out of the position below the middle sprayer 210, the middle sprayer 210 stops supplying liquid, and when the covered PDMS solution moves to the position below the left heater 420 along with the substrate H, the PDMS solution is solidified to form an upper PDMS covering layer;
and taking down the substrate H, and milling off the cured PEO layer to form the microfluidic chip with the three-layer PDMS structure.
The invention utilizes the stable motion stage of the spinning jet flow to carry out ordered nanofiber deposition, sequentially sprays the surface of a substrate H through the matching of the left spray head 110, the middle spray head 210, the right spray head 310 and the curing unit 400 to form a PDMS covering layer, a spiral PEO covering layer, a PDMS covering layer, a linear PEO covering layer and an upper PDMS covering layer, then mills off the PEO covering layer to further form the microfluidic chip with a specific channel, prepares a multilayer microfluidic chip at one time, and has simple and convenient process, no need of later packaging, good chip sealing performance and high precision.
While the invention has been described above with reference to an embodiment, various modifications may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In particular, the various features of the disclosed embodiments of the invention may be used in any combination, provided that no structural conflict exists, and the combinations are not exhaustively described in this specification merely for the sake of brevity and resource conservation. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.