Direct photopolymerization of PEG-methacrylate oligomers for an easy prototyping of microfluidic structures

A photocurable polymer mixture made of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) dimethacrylate and monomethacrylate is proposed as structural material for the fabrication and easy prototyping of the microfluidics for Lab-on-Chip (LOC) devices. The kinetics of photopolymerisation and some material properties such as its viscoelastic behaviour (by dynamic-mechanical analysis) and surface wettability (by contact angle) were studied. The PCR biocompatibility of the PEG crosslinked material was favourably assessed by preliminary in vitro tests. A direct fabrication method of controlled geometry microchannels is finally presented by direct photopolymerisation under UV light irradiation through photomasks without the need of a master. Finally the same process was successfully used to assembly and seal the microchannels.