Full Description Here: http://muonray.blogspot.ie/2016/05/a-chemistry-set-in-palm-of-your-hand-3d.html

Using the modern wonder that is 3D printing, here we showcase 3D printed so-called "Lab-on-a-chip" (LOAC) microfluidic devices using computer assisted design (CAD) implemented in the relatively small scale and near instantaneous manufacturing process that 3D printing allows and indeed is continuing to improve all the time.

This shows that manufacturing these devices is not only cost-effective and practical for those who want to use such devices in a test bed fashion, (or even merely for demonstration), without having to commit to massive investment, both in terms of time and finances, but it also adds to the ability to procure such non-innocuous devices such as microfluidic cells which are often expensive and therefore not readily applicable to people who want to experiment with this interesting technology with a sense of taking a risk with an expensive piece of equipment.

The fact that the 3D printed CAD files can also be modified on site to perfect the device in function with its application, for example making the planar mixing element longer or wider on the circuit, is also the added benefit of having 3D printed devices such as this as more and more elements can be modified and incorporated into the device in tandem with experimental testing, creating an evolution of these devices with their certain applied niche in the laboratory.

The "μLab" Microfluidic Lab-on-a-Chip (LOAC) device itself is designed using Meshlab and can accept 4mm diameter barbed tubing connectors that can feed in liquids to the channel using commercially available 4mm diameter tubing.

We have also treated the interior of the our 3D printed LOAC with Silica Nanoparticles, giving the interior some of the properties of glassware, such as easy flow and cleaning hydrophobic and oleophobic properties. This allows for broader range of uses of this technology.