Hydrogels: The Next Generation Body Materials for Microfluidic Chips?

Can hydrogels become another material choice for the construction of microfluidic chips, particularly biofluidics? Following the loop of “application‐material‐process‐equipment‐device,” the concept of hydrogel‐based microfluidic chips (HMCs) is systematically established concerning three main issues: i) Why choosing hydrogels as the body material for microfluidic chips? ii) How to fabricate HMCs? and iii) In which field s to apply HMCs? AbstractThe integration of microfluidics with biomedical research is confronted with considerable limitations due to its body materials. With high content of water, hydrogels own superior biocompatibility and degradability. Can hydrogels become another material choice for the construction of microfluidic chips, particularly biofluidics? The present review aims to systematically establish the concept of hydrogel ‐based microfluidic chips (HMCs) and address three main concerns: i) why choosing hydrogels? ii) how to fabricate HMCs?, and iii) in which fields to apply HMCs? It is envisioned that hydrogels may be used increasingly as substitute for traditional materials and gradually act as the body material f or microfluidic chips. The modifications of conventional process are highlighted to overcome issues arising from the incompatibility between the construction methods and hydrogel materials. Specifically targeting at the “soft and wet” hydrogels, an efficient flowchart of “i) high resolution te mplate printing; ii) damage�...

Source: Small - November 19, 2020 Category: Nanotechnology Authors: Jing Nie, Jianzhong Fu, Yong He Tags: Review Source Type: research