3-D streamline steering by nodes arrayed in an entangled microfluidic network

A vital part of microfluidic designs is to impose control over fluid streamlines by microscale structures. In this paper, we describe a method to control streamline steering through different microfluidic entangled networks. These networks were constructed by stacking two distinguishable layers of microchannels face-to-face. We have developed four fundamental nodes, called R, L, N and Z that were generated at the crossing connecting the two channel layers. These nodes could steer fluid streamlines in different 3-D fashions. Controlled dispensing of both particle suspension and solute molecules was attainable by arraying the fundamental nodes in the entangled networks. Future microfluidic designs may benefit from the programmable control of streamlines by R, L, N and Z nodes. © The Royal Society of Chemistry.