Fabrication of cellulose acetate microfluidic devices using injection molding and CO2 laser ablation

Abstract

AbstractCellulose acetate (CA) is a bio‐based polymer derived from natural resources and has unique physical and chemical properties, such as high transparency, chemical and mechanical stability, hydrophilicity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. This study proposed an approach for the fabrication of CA‐based microfluidic devices with injection molded CA sheet and CO2 laser‐ablated microchannel. This study also provided a detailed study of the width and depth of the laser‐ablated microchannels with various scan speeds and laser energy settings. A droplet generator and a diffusion mixer were also fabricated and tested for the demonstration of the proposed fabrication technique. Biocompatibility test, biodegradability test, and spontaneous flow experiments were also conducted with the fabricated CA‐based microfluidic devices. The proposed fabrication method for CA‐based microfluidic devices has great application prospects in analytical chemistry, biological, and medical fields for the formation of environmentally friendly microfluidics devices.