Low-cost 3D Printed Sub-mm Fluidic Platform for Flow Cell Application

Microfluidic is a technology that processes and manipulates fluid in a tens to hundreds micrometers channel. With its feature and characteristic, microfluidics offers many benefits and applications in the research field. However, this technology has become limited due to the costly and time-consuming manufacturing method. In this paper, we demonstrate the fabrication fluidic device as a flow cell integrated with an electrochemical sensor using a 3D printer. The device fabrication using a low-cost SLA 3D printer which only costs less than 500 USD. This study presents a low-cost and simple one-step fabrication method of a microfluidic device. The smallest channel height of the 3D printed microfluidic reaches a large microfluidic scale (100-500 (μm) which was 300 μm. This condition reduced the amount of sample usage. The fluid flow test showed 3D printed flow cells have good coverage and do not leak. The flow test also showed the flow that occurred in the channel is laminar. In this condition, the feature and characteristics of microfluidic flow apply to these 3D-printed devices.