Combining indirect microfluidic systems with polymer components manufactured from photocurable perfluoropolyethers

In this paper we describe the benefit of using indirect microfluidic systems compared to classical highly integrated microfluidics or monolithic microfluidic systems in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Indirect microfluidic systems allow the user to split a microfluidic system into an active system part containing valves and pumps and a passive system part containing disposable parts such as microfluidic polymer chips. The systems can be used for applications such as biomedical applications where the use of disposable components is a necessity. We furthermore discuss the use of a new type of polymers that can be used in combination with indirect microfluidic systems: photocurable perfluoropolyethers which can be described as photocurable liquid Teflon. We demonstrate first experimental result in producing parts from this new type of polymers and their application in indirect microfluidic systems.