Realization of Optimized Wax Laminated Microfluidic Paper-Based Analytical Devices

Being an economical, simple, user-friendly on-field screening platform, microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (mu PADs) have gained significant attention in the scientific community. Hitherto,mu PADs were fabricated by patterning hydrophobic regions using photoresist, wax crayons, solid-ink, plotting-machine, cutting paper via laser and conventional table-top solid wax printer. However, most of these methods needed sophisticated and proprietary instruments, with a complicated process required to forms a hydrophobic barrier, and result in low resolution. In the present work, to prepare a mu PAD using an inexpensive laminator to generate hydrophobic patterns of paraffin wax on cellulose paper has been demonstrated. Here, a predesigned mold coated with paraffin wax and a hot laminator to form an absolute hydrophobic wax pattern. The predesigned mold was created using a simple printing/copier paper followed by wax dip-ping. These fabricated mu PADs have been characterized by selecting a suitable copier paper, with suitable density, as a predefined mold, and choosing optimized speed of roller and temperature of laminator. Finally, the fabricated mu PAD has been exploited for viscosity measurement and colorimetric pH study of fluids. This low-cost, ergonomic and versatile wax lamination approach offers an excellent alternative to the current methods, and offers boundless opportunities for researchers from resource-constrained labs. (c) 2020 The Author(s). Published on behalf of The Electrochemical Society by IOP Publishing Limited. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse of the work in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.