Mobile Flow Control Elements for High-Pressure Micro-Analytical Systems Fabricated Using in-Situ Polymerization

A method for rapidly fabricating a family of robust fluid control elements in microfluidic channels is presented. The polymer devices are lithographically defined in situ in glass microfluidic channels in a few seconds on a benchtop. The devices are capable of controlling fluid flow in microchannels at pressures exceeding 5000 psi (340 bar) and can be actuated in milliseconds. In this work we demonstrate chip-based devices, including a piston, check-valve, and a 10 nanoliter pipette.