Search for: All records

Direct laser writing (DLW) is a three-dimensional (3D) manufacturing technology that offers vast architectural control at submicron scales, yet remains limited in cases that demand microstructures comprising more than one material. Here we present an accessible microfluidic multi-material DLW (μFMM-DLW) strategy that enables 3D nanostructured components to be printed with average material registration accuracies of 100 ± 70 nm (Δ X ) and 190 ± 170 nm (Δ Y ) – a significant improvement versus conventional multi-material DLW methods. Results for printing 3D microstructures with up to five materials suggest that μFMM-DLW can be utilized in applications that demand geometrically complex, multi-material microsystems, such as for photonics, meta-materials, and 3D cell biology. 

Direct laser writing (DLW) is a three-dimensional (3D) manufacturing technology that offers significant geometric versatility at submicron length scales. Although these characteristics hold promise for fields including organ modeling and microfluidic processing, difficulties associated with facilitating the macro-to-micro interfaces required for fluid delivery have limited the utility of DLW for such applications. To overcome this issue, here we report anin-situDLW (isDLW) strategy for creating 3D nanostructured features directly inside of—and notably, fully sealed to—sol-gel-coated elastomeric microchannels. In particular, we investigate the role of microchannel geometry (e.g., cross-sectional shape and size) in the sealing performance ofisDLW-printed structures. Experiments revealed that increasing the outward tapering of microchannel sidewalls improved fluidic sealing integrity for channel heights ranging from 10μm to 100μm, which suggests that conventional microchannel fabrication approaches are poorly suited forisDLW. As a demonstrative example, we employedisDLW to 3D print a microfluidic helical coil spring diode and observed improved flow rectification performance at higher pressures—an indication of effective structure-to-channel sealing. We envision that the ability to readily integrate 3D nanostructured fluidic motifs with the entire luminal surface of elastomeric channels will open new avenues for emerging applications in areas such as soft microrobotics and biofluidic microsystems.