Issue 14, 2023

Integrated membranes within centrifugal microfluidic devices: a review

Abstract

Centrifugal microfluidics has evolved into a sophisticated technology capable of enabling the exploration of fundamental questions in such fields as protein analysis, environmental monitoring, and live cell handling. These microdevices also hold unique potential for translating promising academic research into many real-world scenarios, with several products already available on the market. Yet, in order to fully realize this potentially transformative technology, there remains an outstanding need to incorporate simple to operate world-to-chip interfaces alongside the integration and automation of complex workflows. This requires cost-effective and versatile materials that are, ideally, already commercially available. Membranes not only meet these exigencies, they are also capable of enhancing the inherent advantages of microdevices when thoughtfully combined. This review provides an overview of the importance of these two technologies and the manifold benefits upon their unification. The fundamental principles governing fluid flow with centrifugal actuation, as well as within porous membranes, are briefly covered in addition to a comment on their relative advantages compared to classical microdevices and porous media. The major subtypes in membrane composition, preparation, and microfluidic integration strategies are next discussed in detail, along with their relativistic capabilities and drawbacks. This is followed by recent examples in the literature displaying the enormous versatility membranes have already demonstrated within microfluidic devices, highlighting recent centrifugal microdevices wherever possible. Finally, recommendations for areas where the incorporation of these materials still face challenges, as well as possible new avenues for exploration, are also provided.

Graphical abstract: Integrated membranes within centrifugal microfluidic devices: a review

Article information

Article type
Critical Review
Submitted
01 Mar 2023
Accepted
16 Jun 2023
First published
26 Jun 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Lab Chip, 2023,23, 3130-3159

Integrated membranes within centrifugal microfluidic devices: a review

K. C. O'Connell and J. P. Landers, Lab Chip, 2023, 23, 3130 DOI: 10.1039/D3LC00175J

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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