Development of a 3D printed Micro Free-Flow Electrophoresis Lab on a Chip

This master’s degree thesis focuses on developing a microfluidic Lab-On-A-Chip designed by using a commercial computer graphic CAD software called Rhinoceros and fabricated by employing a 3D printer (OBJECT 30 PRIME by Stratasys) based on the poly-jet technology. This microfluidic device manages to perform at a microscale level the free-flow electrophoresis that is indicated through its acronym µFFE. In particular, it is composed of a microfluidic chamber, some inlets in which sample and buffer solutions are pumped by using an automatic pumping system, some outlets from which the separation products are collected after the electrophoresis process. Different design solutions were analyzed and some attention was dedicated to realize excellent standard fluidic connectors on the back of the chip. Firstly, a Luer slip standard connection was designed and its functionality was analyzed. Then, the design was improved by realizing threaded more robust connectors of kind UNF 28 standards. After the fabrication of some prototype, a significant amount of time was spent to verify and compare the dimensions of the printed devices with the nominal values set on the 3D design. In particular, some measurements were performed and statistical analysis was carried out to analyze the fabrication process’s behavior in terms of repeatability and accuracy. In a second part of the work, the quality of the chip sealing was investigated and some separation tests on a dye mixture composed by Bromophenol Blue and xylene cyanol FF were performed.