Issue 12, 2024

Laser-induced graphene-based digital microfluidics (gDMF): a versatile platform with sub-one-dollar cost

Abstract

Digital microfluidics (DMF), is an emerging liquid-handling technology, that shows promising potential in various biological and biomedical applications. However, the fabrication of conventional DMF chips is usually complicated, time-consuming, and costly, which seriously limits their widespread applications, especially in the field of point-of-care testing (POCT). Although the paper- or film-based DMF devices can offer an inexpensive and convenient alternative, they still suffer from the planar addressing structure, and thus, limited electrode quantity. To address the above issues, we herein describe the development of a laser-induced graphene (LIG) based digital microfluidics chip (gDMF). It can be easily made (within 10 min, under ambient conditions, without the need of costly materials or cleanroom-based techniques) by a computer-controlled laser scribing process. Moreover, both the planar addressing DMF (pgDMF) and vertical addressing DMF (vgDMF) can be readily achieved, with the latter offering the potential of a higher electrode density. Also, both of them have an impressively low cost of below $1 ($0.85 for pgDMF, $0.59 for vgDMF). Experiments also show that both pgDMF and vgDMF have a comparable performance to conventional DMF devices, with a colorimetric assay performed on vgDMF as proof-of-concept to demonstrate their applicability. Given the simple fabrication, low cost, full function, and the ease of modifying the electrode pattern for various applications, it is reasonably expect that the proposed gDMF may offer an alternative choice as a versatile platform for POCT.

Graphical abstract: Laser-induced graphene-based digital microfluidics (gDMF): a versatile platform with sub-one-dollar cost

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 Mar 2024
Accepted
08 May 2024
First published
09 May 2024

Lab Chip, 2024,24, 3125-3134

Laser-induced graphene-based digital microfluidics (gDMF): a versatile platform with sub-one-dollar cost

K. Liu, Y. He, Z. Lu, Q. Xu, L. Wang, Z. Liu, J. Khou, J. Ye, C. Liu and T. Zhang, Lab Chip, 2024, 24, 3125 DOI: 10.1039/D4LC00258J

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