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A novel solenoid driven pressure valve system: towards a versatile fluidic control in paper microfluidics.

Author
Abstract
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As paper-based diagnostics has become predominantly driven by more advanced microfluidic technology, many of the research efforts are still focused on developing reliable and versatile fluidic control devices, apart from improving sensitiv-ity and reproducibility. In this paper, we introduce a novel and robust paper fluidic control system enabling versatile flu-idic control. The system comprises a linear push-pull solenoid and an Arduino Uno microcontroller. The precisely con-trolled pressure exerted on the paper stops the flow. We first determined the stroke distance of the solenoid to obtain a constant pressure while examining the fluidic time delay as function of the pressure. Results showed that strips of grade 1 chromatography paper had superior reproducibility in fluid transport. Next, we characterized the reproducibility of the fluidic velocity which depends on the type and grade of paper used. As such, we were able to control the flow velocity on the paper and also achieve complete stop of flow with a pressure over 2.0 MPa. Notably, after the actuation of the pres-sure-driven valve (PDV), the previously pressed area regained its original flow properties. This means that even on previ-ously pressed area, multiple valve operations can be successfully conducted. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of an active and repetitive valve operation in paper microfluidics. As a proof of concept we have chosen to perform a multi-step detection system in the form of an Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA) with mouse IgG as the target analyte.

Year of Publication
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2018
Journal
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Analytical chemistry
Date Published
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2018
ISSN Number
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0003-2700
URL
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https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.7b03791
DOI
:
10.1021/acs.analchem.7b03791
Short Title
:
Anal Chem
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