A microfluidic flow injection system for DNA assay with fluids driven by an on-chip integrated pump based on capillary and evaporation effects

Abstract

A miniaturized flow injection analysis (FIA) system integrating a micropump on a microfluidic chip based on capillary and evaporation effects was developed. The pump was made by fixing a filter paper plug with a vent tube at the channel end, it requires no peripheral equipment and provides steady flow in the μl min⁻¹ range for FIA operation. Valve-free sample injection was achieved at nanolitre level using an array of slotted vials. The practical applicability of the system was demonstrated by DNA assay with laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection. A precision of 1.6% RSD (10.0 ng μl⁻¹, n = 15) was achieved with a sampling throughput of 76 h⁻¹ and sample consumption of 95 nl.