Polymer material is one of the most widely used substrate materials in microfluidics due to its low-cost ,and disposable advantages. We develop various polymer-based microfabrication techniques for front-end microchannel fabrication and back-end bonding. We also develop microfluidics model and MEMS based microdevice for biomedical, geology and energy applications.
Bonding & Back-end fabrication of microfluidics device.
Polymer microfluidics device fabrication process
Review articles
Chia-Wen Tsao* “Polymer microfluidics: Simple, low-cost fabrication process bridging academic lab research to commercialized production” Micromachines 2016, 7(12), 225; (High cited paper)
C.W. Tsao* and D. L. DeVoe “Bonding of thermoplastic polymer microfluidics” Microfluidics and Nanofluidics, 6,1–16 2009 (High cited paper)
Bonding of thermalplastic microfluidic device by dry adhesive tape (top), magnetic force (left-bottom), and UV/Ozone (right-bottom)
Chia-Wen Tsao* and Zheng-Kun Wu “Polymer Microchannel and Micromold Surface Polishing for Rapid, Low-Quantity Polydimethylsiloxane and Thermoplastic Microfluidic Device Fabrication” Polymers 2020, 12, 2574
Chia-Wen Tsao and Wan-Ci Syu “Bonding of thermoplastic microfluidics by dry adhesive tapes” RSC Advances, 2020, 10, 30289 - 30296
Chia-Yi Yen, Moh-Ching O. Chang, Zong-Fu Shih, Yi-Hsing Lien and Chia-Wen Tsao* “Cyclic Block Copolymer Microchannel Fabrication and Sealing for Microfluidics Applications” Inventions 2018, 3(3), 49
Chia-Wen Tsao* and Yueh-Pu Lee “Magnetic microparticle-polydimethylsiloxane composite for reversible microchannel bonding” Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 1, 2–11
Chia-Wen Tsao* and Tzug-Yi Chen “Rapid polymer microchannel fabrication by hot roller embossing process” Microsystem Technologies, Volume 18, Issue 6, pp 713-722, 2012
C. F. Chen, J. Liu, L. P. Hromada, C.W. Tsao, C. C. Chang and D. L. DeVoe “High-pressure needle interface for thermoplastic microfluidics” Lab ON A CHIP, 9, 50 – 55, 2009
C.W. Tsao, L. Hromada, J. Liu, P.Kumar and D.L. DeVoe "UV/Ozone Surface Treatment of PMMA and COC Microfluidic Substrates" LAB ON A CHIP 7 (4): 499-505 2007
Microfluidics/Mass Spectrometry interfacing
Piezo-Ring-on-Chip microfluidic device interfacing with mass spectrometry
Chia-Wen Tsao*, I-Chao Lei, Pi-Yu Chen and Yu-Liang Yang “Piezo-Ring-on-Chip Microfluidic Device for Simple and Low-Cost Mass Spectrometry Interfacing” Analyst, 143, 981-988, 2018
Chia-Wen Tsao*, Ke-Siang Chen, and Feng-Nan Hwang “Numerical Simulation of Droplet-Based Microfluidic Chip Interfacing with Laser Desorption/Ionization Mass Spectrometry Target Substrate” Micro & Nano Letters, IET, vol. 10, pp. 192-197, 2015
Chia-Wen Tsao, Song Tao, Chien-Fu Chen, Jikun Liu, and Don L. DeVoe “Interfacing microfluidics to LDI-MS by automatic robotic spotting” Microfluidics and Nanofluidics, Volume 8, (2010) Issue 6, Page 777
C.W. Tsao, J. Liu and D.L. DeVoe " Droplet formation from hydrodynamically coupled capillaries for parallel microfluidic contact spotting " Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, vol. 18, pp. 025013, 2008
Microfluidics/MEMS device (for biomedical, geology or energy…)
Polymer microfluidic model for soil-on-a-chip applications
Chia-Wen Tsao, Qun-Zhan Huang, Cheng-Ye Yu, Krzysztof Lamorski, Liang-Cheng Chang, Cezary Sławiński, Shao-Yiu Hsu “Pore-scale investigation of macro-pore air-liquid interactions in micromodels with 2D and 25D pore structures” Lab on a Chip, DOI: 10.1039/D0LC01029D, 2020
Shao-Yiu Hsu, Zhong-Yao Zhang and Chia-Wen Tsao* “Thermoplastic micromodel investigation of two-phase flows in a fractured porous medium” Micromachines 2017, 8, 38
Heng-Dong Xi, Hao Zheng, Wei Guo, Alfonso M Gañán-Calvo, Ye Ai, Chia-Wen Tsao, Jun Zhou, Weihua Li, Yanyi Huang, Nam-Trung Nguyen and Say Hwa Tan “Active droplet sorting in microfluidics: a review”. Lab Chip, 2017,17, 751-771 (featured as cover image)
Shao-Li Han, Meng‑Jie Xie, Chih‑Cheng Chien, Yu‑Che Cheng, and Chia‑Wen Tsao* “Using MEMS‑based inertial sensor with ankle foot orthosis for telerehabilitation and its clinical evaluation in brain injuries and total knee replacement patients” Microsystem technologies,pp. 1-10, 2015/02/03 2015
Adrian J.T. Teo, Holden King-Ho Li, Nam-Trung Nguyen, Wei Guo, Nadine Heere, Heng-Dong Xi, Chia-Wen Tsao, Weihua Li, and Say Hwa Tan “Negative Pressure Induced Droplet Generation in a Microfluidic Flow-focusing Device” Analytical Chemistry , 2017, 89 (8), pp 4387–4391 (featured as cover image)
Feng-Nan Hwang, Xiao-Chuan Cai, Yu-Lun Cheng, Chia-Wen Tsao* "A Parallel Fully Coupled Implicit Domain Decomposition Method for Numerical Simulation of Microfluidic Mixing in 3D", International Journal of Computer Mathematics, Volume 90, Issue 3, 2013
Yi-Teng Hsiao, Jing-Hui Wang, Yi-Chun Hsu, Chien-Chun Chiu, Chien-Jung Lo, Chia-Wen Tsao, Wei Yen Woon “Collective hydrodynamics confinement in bacterial carpet microfluidic channel” Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 203702 (2012)
J. Liu, C.F. Chen, C.W. Tsao, C. C. Chang, C. C. Chu, and D. L. DeVoe ” Polymer Microchips Integrating Solid-Phase Extraction and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Using Reversed-Phase Polymethacrylate Monoliths” Analytical Chemistry, 81 (7), pp. 2545-2554, 2009