Synthetic Microfluidic Paper consists of slanted and interlocked thiol-ene polymer micropillars and can be used as a porous substrate in microfluidics and lateral flow assays. We here demonstrate single step manufacturing of multiple Synthetic Microfluidic Paper densities in the same device, and passive alignment of liquid spots in denser substrate regions, regardless of spotting position, allowing increased control of receptor positioning for lateral flow assays. We further demonstrate that the transparency of Synthetic Microfluidic Paper allows increasing readout signal intensity with increasing substrate thickness, to a value 3 times larger compared to nitrocellulose substrates. Figure 1: (a) Manufacturing of Synthetic Microfluidic Paper using 4 angled mirrors during UV-lithography illustrated in side-view. (b) 3D-sketch of Synthetic Microfluidic Paper in perspective-view showing geometrical parameters definitions of pillar diameter, d, pillar pitch, p, and pillar height, h. We experimentally demonstrate: (1) single step manufacturing of multiple synthetic paper densities within a single monolithic lateral flow substrate; (2) that denser synthetic paper geometry at a functionalization region (e.g. a region where receptor adsorption is required) passively aligns spotted liquid to the functionalization region, resulting in identical spotting independent of the spotting position within the region; and (3) that the transparency of the synthetic paper allows increasing readout signal intensity with increasing substrate thickness, to a value 3 times larger compared to that of (opaque) standard nitrocellulose substrates.

Synthetic paper – a microstructured coating developed for medical diagnostics

256th National Meeting (2018)

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