We report on a microfluidic mixer fabrication platform that increases the versatility and flexibility of mixers for biomolecular applications. A sandwich-format design allows the application of multiple spectroscopic probes to the same mixer. A polymer spacer is 'sandwiched' between two transparent windows, creating a closed microfluidic system. The channels of the mixer are defined by regions in the polymer spacer that lack material and therefore the polymer need not be transparent in the spectral region of interest. Suitable window materials such as CaF2 make the device accessible to a wide range of optical probe wavelengths, from the deep UV to the mid-IR. In this study, we use a commercially available 3D printer to print the polymer spacers to apply three different channel designs into the passive, continuous-flow mixer, and integrated them with three different spectroscopic probes. All three spectroscopic probes are applicable to each mixer without further changes. The sandwich-format mixer coupled with cost-effective 3D printed fabrication techniques could increase the applicability and accessibility of microfluidic mixing to intricate kinetic schemes and monitoring chemical synthesis in cases where only one probe technique proves insufficient.

中文翻译：

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三明治式 3D 打印微流体混合器：用于多探针分析的灵活平台

我们报告了一种微流体混合器制造平台，该平台增加了混合器在生物分子应用中的多功能性和灵活性。夹心式设计允许将多个光谱探头应用于同一混合器。聚合物垫片“夹”在两个透明窗口之间，形成一个封闭的微流体系统。混合器的通道由聚合物间隔件中缺少材料的区域限定，因此聚合物在感兴趣的光谱区域中不需要是透明的。合适的窗口材料（如 CaF2）使该设备可用于从深紫外到中红外的各种光学探测波长。在这项研究中，我们使用市售的 3D 打印机打印聚合物垫片，将三种不同的通道设计应用到被动连续流动混合器中，并将它们与三种不同的光谱探针集成在一起。所有三个光谱探头都适用于每个混合器，无需进一步更改。三明治式混合器与具有成本效益的 3D 打印制造技术相结合，可以提高微流体混合在复杂动力学方案和监测化学合成方面的适用性和可访问性，在只有一种探针技术证明不足的情况下。