Microblower-based microfluidic pump

This paper reports on a highly economical and accessible microfluidic pump using a piezoelectric air microblower for the controlled pumping of small-volume fluids into microfluidic chips. The present pump exerts high-accuracy control over the driving pressure to deliver fluids into and flexibly alter their flow rate inside microfluidic channels with a fast response at the millisecond scale and high pumping pressure stability. We have demonstrated the applications of this pump to shift the fluidic interface between laminar flows across a microfluidic channel, produce microdroplets with controllable sizes and chemical ingredients, and generate a discrete concentration gradient when incorporating a microfluidic concentration generator. Owing to its easy assembly and low cost, the microfluidic pump can provide a highly accessible and inexpensive solution to pumping and manipulating liquids in microfluidic devices for many chemical and biological studies, and will be particularly suitable for applications requiring full system integration and flow rate control automation within a limited space and financial budget. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.