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Experiment 6: Study of flow characteristics in patterned paper channel

Aim of the experiment:
To study flow of coloured dye through rectangular paper channel and graphically plot the
flow length vs time at different instants for the duration of flow.
Introduction/ Background:
Paper is a porous matrix made of cellulose fibres. If we put a drop of liquid on a dry paper
platform it will immediately diffuse in all directions through the pores of the fibre matrix. To
guide the liquid through a specific direction through the paper, we need to pattern the paper
ie. develop hydrophobic barriers so that the liquid flows only through the hydrophilic channel
path . Hydrophobic barriers may be created on paper by wax printing, by printing barriers on
both side of paper and heating , or even by photolithography.

Fig 1: A microscopic view of filter paper showing cellulose fibres and pores
Paper is an inexpensive material, which is abundantly available and easy to store. Paper has
one of the lowest values of weight to accessible surface area ratio. Dry paper can be made
wet by any aqueous solution and has the power to wick biological fluids by capillary action.
This wicking ability eliminates the requirement for external sources of power to pump fluids
through a device as long as distances are kept short ( around 5 cm).

Fig 2: Whatman Filter Grade 1, Paper channel with printed hydrophobic barriers

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Significance/ Applications:

Paper based microfluidics is a very important area of research in today’s world. One
important application area is the development of Microfluidic paper based analytical devices
(μpad), which are widely used as rapid immunoassays for Point-of-care diagnostics. Besides
this, patterned paper may be used to make certaindevices which servesimportant
functionalities as found in traditional microfluidic devices like mixing, valving, timer
generation, separation, etc.

Fig 4: Glucose (brown) and bilirubin (yellow) detection, Blood plasma separation on paper

Apparatus:
 Rectangular patterned paper channels (4 cm X 0.3 cm) made of filter paper
(Whatman grade 4) with two circular reservoirs ( diameter: 0.7 cm) at the two ends of
channel
 Rhodamine dye
 Micro-pipette
 Glass Petri dishes
 Cellotapes
 Diagonal scale
 Camera/Smartphone for video recording .
 Inkjet Printer
 Hotplate

Fabrication Technique:
The design of microchannel is done using Microsoft word /AutoCAD software and printing is
done on both sides on Whatman® grade-4 cellulose paper using 1200 dpi inkjet printer (HP
Color LaserJet). After that, the printed paper substrate is heated on the hot plate at a
temperature of 180ºC ( above the melting point of toner ink particles) for 8-10 minutes
leading to diffusion of the molten hydrophobic toner particle through the porous paper matrix
and thus the development of preferential hydrophobic layer across the paper thickness.
Basically, the aim is to fabricate hydrophobic barriers with a particular design on the
hydrophilic paper to guide the flow in a certain direction.

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Experimental Procedure :

1) Fix a part of the diagonal scale to the lower end of a glass petri dish with cellotapes.
2) Put the paper channel on the petri dish by aligning the channel with the diagonal
scale.
3) Use the micro pipette to deposit 20 microliters of dye in the input reservoir of the
paper channel.
4) Record a video of the entire duration of the flow of dye through the channel, using the
camera.
5) Transfer the video record file in a desktop/ laptop for further processing.

Do’s and Dont’s:

 Perform your experiment only in presence of lab experts.
 Do not touch or handle any equipment without informing lab experts.
 Do not bring college bag inside the lab.
 Carry your own notebook, pen, pencils, mobile for writing and taking images.

Processing of the experimental data :

 Open the video record file in a desktop/ laptop.
 Split the whole video into series of snapshots using any online software
 Splitting should be done at a suitable time interval depending on the total length of the
video. There should be at least 15 to 20 snapshots available for further analysis.

Results and discussion :

 From each of the obtained snapshots record the length of liquid front from the
diagonal scale reading and write the values below against the suitable time instants in
tabular format below.

Sl. no Length of liquid front ( mm) Time elapsed (secs)

1
2
3

 Obtain a graphical plot for Length of liquid front vs Time with the above data.
 Compare the above plot with Washburn's model for capillary driven flow in porous
medium.

Sources of Error :
 Failure to keep the camera still while video recording, gives rise to errors during
image processing.
 Improper illumination while video recording, gives rise to errors during image
processing.
 The petri dish should be kept over a perfectly flat horizontal surface during the
experiment, otherwise there may be erroneous results.

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Questions:

1) Name some important properties of paper which are considered during design and
fabrication of paper-based microfluidic devices .
2) What are the basic precautions adopted while performing the experiment in
microfluidics lab?
3) Discuss the limitation of Washburn’s model. Sate your suggestions to overcome this
limitation for a better modelling of diffusive flow through paper matrix.

References:

1. Edward w. Washburn, “ The dynamics of capillary flow” Physical review, 1921, 17,
No. 3.
2. Reza Masoodi and Krishna M. Pillai, "Darcy’s Law-Based Model for Wicking in
Paper-Like Swelling Porous Media ", AIChE Journal, 2010, 56 , 2257-2267.

Microfluidics Lab Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur