Microfluidic diffusion diluter: bulging of PDMS microchannels under pressure-driven flow

The bulging of microfluidic systems during pressure-driven flow is potentially a major consideration for polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based devices. Microchannel cross-sectional areas can change drastically as a function of flow rate and downstream microchannel position. Such geometrical flexibility leads to difficulties in predicting convective/diffusive transport for these systems. We have previously introduced a non-dimensional parameter, kappa, for characterizing convection and diffusion behavior for pressure-driven flow in rigid all-glass systems. This paper describes a modification of that concept for application to non-rigid systems, which is accomplished by incorporating an experimental step to account for the bulging in PDMS/glass microsystems. Specifically, an experimental measurement of channel height by fluorescence microscopy is combined with the aforementioned theory to characterize convective/diffusive behavior at a single location in the device. This allowed the parameter K to be determined at that point and applied to predict fluid flow in the subsequent portion of the PDMS microsystem. This procedure was applied to a PDMS/glass microfluidic diffusion dilution (muDD) device designed for generating concentration gradients. Theoretically predicted and experimentally measured distributions of concentrations within the microsystem matched well.