Finger-powered, pressure-driven microfluidic pump

Here we present and demonstrate the concept of a versatile `human-powered' fluid pumps as a modular element to provide pressure head for a variety of microfluidic systems. Several distinctive accomplishments have been achieved: (1) human finger as the pumping actuation force; (2) pumping without using any electricity, (3) integrated pump with a passive safety valve and two one-way valves, and (4) successful demonstration in delivering fluids/particles into a microfluidic chip. For the first time, we have demonstrated that measured pressure head by a human finger was between 3-4kPa, which is sufficient to power fluids for various microfluidic applications, such as point-of-care diagnostics.