A microfluidic chip with channels that can be programmed then reset and reconfigured has been developed by scientists from France and Japan.
Water is dispensed into chip reservoirs. By selectively switching on electrodes, water is manipulated to carve out the channels
In recent years, scientists from across of the globe have developed a plethora of microfluidic chips to perform a variety of tasks, from PCR to cell sorting. However, a serious drawback of microfluidic technologies is that each application requires a unique arrangement of inlets, outlets and microchannels, so microfluidic chips are usually specific to one particular purpose. This, combined with the time-consuming and costly manufacturing processes required to construct microfluidic devices, makes the idea of a reprogrammable chip very attractive.
Read the full article here at Chemistry World.
Programmable and reconfigurable microfluidic chip
Raphaël Renaudot, et al.
Lab Chip, 2013, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C3LC50850A, Paper
