This study describes an inexpensive and nonconventional soft‐embossing protocol to produce microfluidic devices in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). The desirable microfluidic structure was photo‐patterned in a poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) film deposited on glass substrate to produce a low‐relief master. Then, this template was used to generate a high‐relief pattern in stiffened PDMS by increasing of curing agent /monomer ratio (1:5) followed by thermal aging in a laboratory oven (200°C for 24 h). The stiffened PDMS masters were used to replicate microfluidic devices in PMMA based on soft embossing at 220–230°C and thermal sealing at 140°C. Both embossing and sealing stages were performed by using binder clips. The proposed protocol has ensured the replication of microfluidic devices in PMMA with great fidelity (>94%). Examples of MCE devices, droplet generator devices and spot test array were successfully demonstrated. For testing MCE devices, a mixture containing inorganic cations was selected as model and the achieved analytical performance did not reveal significant difference from commercial PMMA devices. Water droplets were successfully generated in an oil phase at rate of ca. 60 droplets/min (fixing the continuous phase flow rate at 100 μL/h) with size of ca. 322 ± 6 μm. Glucose colorimetric assay was performed on spot test devices and good detectability level (5 μmol/L) was achieved. The obtained results for two artificial serum samples revealed good agreement with the certified concentrations. Based on the fabrication simplicity and great analytical performance, the proposed soft‐embossing protocol may emerge as promising approach for manufacturing PMMA devices.

中文翻译：

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基于软压花协议的PMMA微流体设备的廉价和非常规制造。

这项研究描述了一种廉价且非常规的软压花规程，用于生产聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯（PMMA）中的微流控设备。在玻璃基板上沉积的聚醋酸乙烯酯（PVAc）薄膜中，对所需的微流体结构进行了光图案化，以产生低浮雕母版。然后，通过增加固化剂/单体比率（1：5），然后在实验室烤箱（200°C加热24小时）中进行热老化，此模板可用于在增强的PDMS中生成高浮雕图案。基于220-230°C的软压花和140°C的热封，坚固的PDMS母版被用于在PMMA中复制微流体设备。压花和密封阶段均使用活页夹进行。所提出的协议确保了保真度（> 94％）的PMMA中微流控设备的复制。MCE设备的示例，液滴发生器设备和点测试阵列已成功演示。为了测试MCE设备，选择了包含无机阳离子的混合物作为模型，并且所获得的分析性能与商用PMMA设备没有显着差异。水滴在油相中成功生成的速率约为。60滴/分钟（将连续相流速固定为100μL/ h），尺寸约为 322±6微米 在现场测试设备上进行了葡萄糖比色法测定，并达到了良好的可检测性水平（5μmol/ L）。两个人造血清样品的获得结果表明与标准浓度具有良好的一致性。基于制造的简便性和出色的分析性能，提出的软压印协议可能会成为制造PMMA器件的有前途的方法。