DESIGN CONCEPTS FOR PREVENTING GAS BUBBLE INTERFERENCE IN MICROFLUIDIC DEVICES

Unintendedly introduced gas bubbles in channels can significantly interfere with performance and behavior of microfluidic systems. Thus, there is a high demand for smart microfluidic system designs which are capable of preventing gas bubbles. In this work, we develop two different bubble interference preventing system designs: a degasser device that actively removes gas bubbles from the liquid based on pressure driven gas permeation, and a passive micro channel design that provides a guiding mechanism based on the gas bubbles’ effort to minimize their surface energy. The effective performances of the devices are demonstrated.