Background
Currently, the capture of micro-droplets is widely used in the research fields of medical diagnosis, pharmacy, and biology, for example: digital PCR techniques, etc.; however, microfluidic chips based on microchannels of syringe pumps have low capture rates and time-intensive procedures, and require the use of a large number of mechanical pumps and accessories to handle the liquid, mainly represented by:
the micro-fluid has large viscosity resistance in the flowing process, so that the mechanical pump is difficult to drive the fluid in the slender pipeline, and the mechanical micro-pump can damage or denature biomolecules in the fluid in the process of treating the liquid; furthermore, mechanical pumps contain miniature controllable components, which are expensive.
Microfluidics are susceptible to bubbles in the microfluidic channels, making hydraulic pressure in mechanical pumps difficult to control.
The micro-channel injection method is used for realizing the capture of the micro-beads, a large-scale injection pump and an auxiliary program are needed for processing liquid, the chemical modification process is irreversible, the process is complex, and the generated liquid drops have poor uniformity.
Therefore, the microfluidic chip in the conventional technical scheme has the problems of low droplet generation efficiency, difficulty in controlling droplet size, uneven size and the like.
Disclosure of Invention
In view of the above, the present invention provides a droplet array generating apparatus, which generates droplets and makes the droplets go into micro-grooves by using a shear force generated when the micro-grooves contact a liquid through a rolling roller; meanwhile, the microgroove chip is bonded with the sealing glue and separated from the roller, the sealing glue seals the microgrooves to form a liquid drop array, and the prepared liquid drops are uniform in size, good in repeatability, simple in preparation process, high in efficiency and wide in application prospect in the field of medical biology.
In a first aspect, the invention provides a droplet array generating device, which comprises a substrate, a roller arranged on the substrate and a microgroove chip arranged on the peripheral surface of the roller, wherein a sealant is arranged on the surface of one side of the substrate, which is close to the roller; the microgroove chip comprises a chip base body and a microgroove array structure, wherein the chip base body is attached to the roller, the microgroove array structure is arranged on the chip base body, a plurality of microgrooves are arranged at intervals, when liquid is arranged between the base and the roller and rolls, the liquid enters the microgrooves in a plurality of numbers to form a plurality of liquid drops, meanwhile, the microgroove chip is bonded with the sealing glue and separated from the roller, and the sealing glue is sealed in a plurality of the microgrooves to form a liquid drop array.
In the invention, when the microgrooves are contacted with the liquid, the openings of the microgrooves can generate shearing force on the liquid, so that single liquid drops are formed and enter the microgrooves; meanwhile, the micro-groove chip is bonded with the sealing glue and separated from the roller, and the sealing glue seals the micro-groove containing the single liquid drop, so that a liquid drop array is formed.
Optionally, the cross section of the micro groove is a semi-ellipse, a triangle or a quadrangle. Further, the cross section of the micro groove is semi-elliptical.
Optionally, the longitudinal section of the micro groove is triangular or quadrangular. Furthermore, the longitudinal section of the micro-groove is a parallelogram. In the present invention, the parallelogram includes a square, a rectangle, and a general parallelogram. Further, the micro grooves are inclined grooves. The side walls of the micro-grooves are obliquely arranged in the chip substrate. That is, the included angle between the longitudinal section of the micro-groove and the chip substrate is an acute angle, that is, the longitudinal section of the micro-groove is a general parallelogram.
In the invention, when the cross section of the micro-groove is semi-elliptical and is a chute, shearing force is more easily generated to shear liquid, so that liquid drops are generated to enter the micro-groove, the chute is more difficult to generate bubbles and dead zones than a vertical groove, and spontaneous flow of the liquid can be realized by utilizing three-dimensional surface energy gradient and Laplace pressure difference, so that the liquid fills the micro-groove under the action of capillary force of the cross section of the micro-groove, a complex mechanical injection pump device is not needed, and the micro-groove has the characteristics of simple operation process and high repeatability. Further, the acute angle in the parallelogram is 45 °.
Optionally, the relationship between the liquid droplet and the inclination angle of the chute is:
α≤180°-2θ
wherein θ is the Poplar contact angle of the droplet.
In the present invention, the inclination angle of the chute is not more than a supplementary angle of two times the young's contact angle of the liquid droplet.
In the invention, the inclination angle of the inclined groove is the angle of the acute angle in the parallelogram of the longitudinal section of the micro-groove.
Optionally, the major axis of the cross section of the micro-groove is 6 μm to 12 μm, and the minor axis is 1.5 μm to 5 μm.
In the invention, the sealant is cured by various modes such as illumination, chemical reaction and the like. Optionally, the sealant is a light-cured sealant, and the droplet array generating device further includes a light source for irradiating the sealant, so that the sealant is cured to seal the plurality of microgrooves.
Optionally, the droplet array generating device further comprises a driver connected to the roller, and the driver is used for driving the roller to roll.
The first aspect of the present invention provides a droplet array generating apparatus for generating droplets and making the droplets go into microgrooves by rolling a roller using shearing force generated when the microgrooves come into contact with liquid; meanwhile, the microgroove chip is bonded with the sealing glue and separated from the roller, the microgroove is sealed by the sealing glue to form a liquid drop array, and the prepared liquid drops are uniform in size, good in repeatability, simple in preparation process and high in efficiency.
In a second aspect, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a droplet array generating device according to the first aspect, comprising:
providing a micro-groove chip template, casting a micro-groove chip forming material on the micro-groove chip template, and stripping the micro-groove chip template after curing treatment to obtain a micro-groove chip;
providing a roller, and attaching the micro-groove chip to the peripheral surface of the roller;
and providing a substrate, wherein the surface of the substrate is provided with a sealant, and arranging the roller on the surface of the substrate to obtain the liquid drop array generating device.
Optionally, the preparation method of the micro-groove chip template includes:
and providing a substrate, and sequentially carrying out plasma treatment, glue homogenizing, pre-baking, oblique exposure, post-baking, developing and cleaning treatment on the substrate to form the micro-groove chip template.
Further, the substrate is sequentially subjected to plasma treatment, glue homogenizing, pre-baking, oblique exposure, post-baking, developing and cleaning treatment, and the method comprises the following steps:
carrying out plasma treatment on the substrate;
dripping photoresist into one side of the substrate after the plasma treatment, and carrying out spin coating treatment on the substrate to obtain a photoresist substrate with a preset thickness;
carrying out pre-baking treatment on the photoetching gum base body;
adjusting the included angle between the photoresist matrix subjected to the pre-baking treatment and a light source to be a preset included angle, and carrying out exposure treatment on the photoresist matrix;
carrying out post-baking treatment on the exposed photoresist base body;
placing the photoetching glue base body after post-baking treatment in a developing solution for soaking and developing treatment;
and cleaning the developed photoresist base body to obtain the micro-groove chip template.
Optionally, the exposure process is a slant exposure process.
Optionally, the micro-groove chip is attached to the outer circumferential surface of the roller through electrostatic action.
The second aspect of the present invention provides a method for manufacturing a droplet array generator, which is simple in operation process and low in cost, and can be used for manufacturing the droplet array generator in large scale.
In a third aspect, the present invention provides a droplet array generating device according to the first aspect for use in biomedical technology.
Optionally, the droplet array generating device is used in digital PCR. Specifically, but not limited to, providing PCR reagents including reagents and gene segments required for PCR reaction, placing the PCR reagents between a roller and a substrate, rolling the roller to make the PCR reagents enter a micro-groove and be sealed by a sealant to form a droplet array; separating the micro-groove chip from the flexible substrate, placing the micro-groove chip and the flexible substrate in a PCR instrument for reaction, and obtaining the initial copy number or concentration of the gene fragment according to the Poisson distribution principle and the number and proportion of the positive liquid drops through fluorescence detection.
The invention has the beneficial effects that:
the invention provides a liquid drop array generating device, wherein a chip matrix is attached to the periphery of a roller, the roller is arranged on the surface of a substrate and rolls on the substrate, when liquid is placed between the substrate and the roller, the roller is rolled to enable a micro-groove chip to be in contact with the liquid, and liquid drops are generated and carried out in the micro-groove by utilizing the shearing force of the micro-groove on the liquid; meanwhile, the microgroove chip is combined with the sealing glue and separated from the roller, the microgroove is sealed by the sealing glue to form a liquid drop array, and the prepared liquid drops are uniform in size, good in repeatability, simple in preparation process and high in efficiency; the invention also provides a preparation method of the liquid drop array generating device, which has the advantages of simple operation process, low cost and controllable size and is beneficial to the wide application of the liquid drop array generating device in the field of medical biology.
Detailed Description
The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.
The invention provides a liquid drop array generating device which comprises a substrate, a roller arranged on the substrate and a microgroove chip arranged on the peripheral surface of the roller, wherein a sealant is arranged on the surface of one side, close to the roller, of the substrate; the microgroove chip comprises a chip base body and a microgroove array structure, wherein the chip base body is attached to the roller, the microgroove array structure is arranged on the chip base body, the microgrooves are arranged on the chip base body at intervals, when liquid is placed between the base and the roller and rolls the roller, the liquid enters the microgrooves to form liquid drops, meanwhile, the microgroove chip is combined with the sealing glue and separated from the roller, and the sealing glue seals the microgrooves to form a liquid drop array.
Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a droplet array generating apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention. The liquid drop array generating device comprises asubstrate 10, aroller 20 arranged on the substrate and amicro-groove chip 30 arranged on the peripheral surface of theroller 20, wherein a sealing glue is arranged on the surface of one side, close to theroller 20, of thesubstrate 10; themicrogroove chip 30 comprises achip base body 31 and a microgroove array structure, wherein thechip base body 31 is attached to the roller, the microgroove array structure is arranged on the chip base body, the microgroove array structure is formed by a plurality ofmicrogrooves 32 which are arranged on the chip base body at intervals, when liquid is placed between thesubstrate 10 and theroller 20 and rolls theroller 20, the liquid enters themicrogrooves 32 to form a plurality of liquid drops, meanwhile, themicrogroove chip 30 is combined with the sealing glue and separated from theroller 20, and the sealing glue seals themicrogrooves 32 to form a liquid drop array.
In the present invention, when the micro-groove 32 is in contact with the liquid, the opening of the micro-groove 32 will generate a shearing force to the liquid, thereby forming a single liquid drop and entering the micro-groove 32; at the same time, themicrochannel 32 chips are bonded to the sealant and removed from thedrum 20, and the sealant seals themicrochannels 32 containing the individual droplets to form an array of droplets.
In the present invention, the plurality of micro grooves in the micro groove array structure are all the same in size, opening shape, inclination angle and direction.
In the present embodiment, the cross-section of themicro grooves 32 is a semi-ellipse, a triangle or a quadrangle. Further, the cross-section of themicro grooves 32 is a semi-elliptical shape.
In the embodiment of the present invention, the longitudinal section of themicro groove 32 is triangular or quadrangular. Further, the longitudinal section of themicro groove 32 is a parallelogram. In the present invention, the parallelogram includes a square, a rectangle, and a general parallelogram. Further, themicro grooves 32 are inclined grooves. The side walls of the micro-grooves 32 are disposed obliquely within the chip substrate. That is, the longitudinal section of themicro groove 32 forms an acute angle with thechip substrate 31, i.e., the longitudinal section of themicro groove 32 is a general parallelogram.
Referring to fig. 2, a top view of a micro-groove 32 chip provided by the present invention is shown, wherein a cross section of the micro-groove 32 is a semi-ellipse, and a longitudinal section of the micro-groove 32 is a parallelogram.
In the invention, when the cross section of the micro-groove 32 is semi-elliptical and is a chute, shearing force is more easily generated to shear liquid, so that liquid drops are generated to enter the micro-groove 32, the chute is more difficult to generate bubbles and dead zones than a vertical groove, and spontaneous flow of the liquid can be realized by utilizing three-dimensional surface energy gradient and Laplace pressure difference, so that the liquid fills the micro-groove 32 under the action of capillary force of the cross section of the micro-groove 32, a complicated mechanical injection pump device is not needed, and the micro-groove has the characteristics of simple operation process and high repeatability. Further, the acute angle in the parallelogram is 45 °.
In the embodiment of the present invention, the relationship between the inclination angles of the liquid droplets and the chute is:
α≤180°-2θ
wherein θ is the Poplar contact angle of the droplet.
In the present invention, the inclination angle of the chute is not greater than the complement angle of twice the young's contact angle of the droplet.
In the present invention, the inclination angle of the inclined groove is the acute angle in the parallelogram of the longitudinal section of themicro groove 32. In particular, the angle of inclination of the chute may be, but is not limited to, 45 °.
Please refer to fig. 3, which is an enlarged view of a cross-sectional view of a dotted frame portion in fig. 1, wherein a longitudinal section of themicro groove 32 is a parallelogram, and themicro groove 32 is a chute, which is more favorable for generating a shearing force between the micro groove and the liquid, and utilizes a surface energy gradient and a laplace pressure difference to realize a spontaneous flow of the liquid, so that the liquid fills the micro groove under the action of a capillary force of the cross-section of the micro groove, and is less likely to generate bubbles and dead zones.
In the present embodiment, themicro grooves 32 have a transverse dimension of not more than 15 μm and a longitudinal dimension of not more than 15 μm.
In the embodiment of the present invention, when the cross section of themicro groove 32 is semi-elliptical, the major axis of the cross section of themicro groove 32 is 6 μm to 12 μm, and the minor axis is 1.5 μm to 5 μm. Specifically, it may be, but not limited to, 8.5 μm in the longer axis and 3.5 μm in the shorter axis.
In the present embodiment, the spacing between themicro grooves 32 is 3 μm to 8 μm. In the micro-groove array structure, the distance between the micro-grooves 32 in each row and the distance between the micro-grooves 32 in each column may be the same or different. Specifically, the distance between themicro grooves 32 in each row is 8 μm, and the distance between themicro grooves 32 in each column is 5 μm.
Referring to fig. 4, a schematic diagram of a droplet array generating apparatus for generating a droplet array according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown, in which the contact position between the droplet and the micro-groove chip is changed from (a) to (b) to (c) in fig. 4 during the rolling process, and a liquid bridge is formed between the micro-groove chip and the sealant during the rolling process, and the liquid bridge tends to move toward the tip by the pinning/unpinning mechanism of the contact line due to the minimum limit (defined as cf, the ratio of the distance from the farthest contact point to the tip to the distance from the nearest contact point to the tip). The liquid bridge is compressed during rolling so that the distance between the upper and lower contact surfaces becomes smaller, resulting in an increase in cf, and the liquid bridge moves away from the tip under the influence of the surface energy gradient until a maximum critical cf value is reached. In the process of liquid translational motion, the interface of the liquid translational motion is cut off by the sharp edge of the micro-groove, and the design of the micro-groove structure can generate Laplace pressure to ensure that the liquid is directionally separated to form a single liquid drop; the droplets are locked in the microgrooves by the three-dimensional surface energy gradient, which, together with laplace pressure, serves as the primary driving force for the droplets to enter the microcavity, allowing the droplets to be generated independent of the liquid flow.
In the embodiment of the invention, the sealant is transparent.
In the invention, the sealant is cured by various modes such as illumination, chemical reaction and the like. In an embodiment of the present invention, the sealant is a photo-curing sealant, and the droplet array generating device further includes a light source for irradiating the sealant to cure and seal the plurality ofmicro grooves 32 with the sealant.
In the embodiment of the present invention, the droplet array generator further includes a driver connected to theroller 20, and the driver is configured to drive theroller 20 to roll.
The liquid drop array generating device provided by the invention generates liquid drops and enables the liquid drops to be carried in the microgrooves by utilizing the shearing force generated when the microgrooves are contacted with liquid through the rolling roller; meanwhile, the microgroove chip is bonded with the sealing glue and separated from the roller, the microgroove is sealed by the sealing glue to form a liquid drop array, and the prepared liquid drops are uniform in size, good in repeatability, simple in preparation process and high in efficiency.
The invention also provides a preparation method of the liquid drop array generating device, which comprises the following steps:
providing a micro-groove chip template, casting a micro-groove chip forming material on the micro-groove chip template, and stripping the micro-groove chip template after curing treatment to obtain a micro-groove chip;
providing a roller, and attaching the micro-groove chip to the peripheral surface of the roller;
and providing a substrate, wherein the surface of the substrate is provided with the sealant, and arranging the roller on the surface of the substrate to obtain the liquid drop array generating device.
In the embodiment of the invention, the preparation method of the micro-groove chip template comprises the following steps:
and providing a substrate, and sequentially carrying out plasma treatment, glue homogenizing, pre-baking, oblique exposure, post-baking, developing and cleaning treatment on the substrate to form the micro-groove chip template.
In the embodiment of the invention, the steps of sequentially carrying out plasma treatment, glue homogenizing, pre-baking, oblique exposure, post-baking, developing and cleaning treatment on a substrate comprise:
carrying out plasma treatment on the substrate;
dripping photoresist on one side of the substrate after the plasma treatment, and carrying out spin coating treatment on the substrate to obtain a photoresist substrate with a preset thickness;
carrying out pre-baking treatment on the photoresist matrix;
adjusting the included angle between the photoresist matrix subjected to the pre-baking treatment and a light source to be a preset included angle, and performing exposure treatment on the photoresist matrix;
carrying out post-baking treatment on the exposed photoresist base body;
placing the photoresist base body after the post-baking treatment in a developing solution for soaking and developing treatment;
and cleaning the developed photoresist base body to obtain the micro-groove chip template.
In the embodiment of the present invention, the micro-groove chip is attached to the outer circumferential surface of the drum by electrostatic action.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the method for preparing the droplet array generating device can be, but is not limited to: providing a substrate, and sequentially carrying out plasma treatment, glue homogenizing, pre-drying, oblique exposure, post-drying, developing and cleaning treatment on the substrate to form a microgroove chip template; the method comprises the following steps of casting polydimethylsiloxane on a micro-groove chip template, carrying out curing treatment on the polydimethylsiloxane, and stripping the micro-groove chip template to obtain a micro-groove chip;
providing a roller, and attaching the micro-groove chip to the peripheral surface of the roller;
and providing a substrate, wherein the surface of the substrate is provided with the sealant, and arranging the roller on the surface of the substrate to obtain the liquid drop array generating device.
The preparation method of the liquid drop array generating device provided by the invention has the advantages of simple operation process and low cost, and can be used for preparing the liquid drop array generating device in a large scale.
The invention provides an application of the liquid drop array generating device in the technical field of biological medicines.
In an embodiment of the present invention, a droplet array generating apparatus is applied to digital PCR. Specifically, but not limited to, providing PCR reagents including reagents and gene segments required for PCR reaction, placing the PCR reagents between a roller and a substrate, rolling the roller to make the PCR reagents enter a micro-groove and be sealed by a sealant to form a droplet array; separating the micro-groove chip from the flexible substrate, placing the micro-groove chip and the flexible substrate in a PCR instrument for reaction, and obtaining the initial copy number or concentration of the gene fragment according to the Poisson distribution principle and the number and proportion of the positive liquid drops through fluorescence detection.
In the present invention, both the substrate and the drum can be recycled; the sealant is removed from the micro-groove chip by chemical cleaning or physical cleaning, the micro-groove chip can be recycled, and the micro-groove chip has simple preparation process and low cost and is suitable for one-time use.
Example 1
By utilizing the liquid drop array generating device, liquid is placed between the substrate and the roller and rolls the roller, so that the liquid enters the micro grooves to form a plurality of liquid drops, meanwhile, the micro groove chip is bonded with the sealing glue and separated from the roller, and the sealing glue seals the micro grooves to form the liquid drop array. The scanning of the generated droplet array showed that the droplet array generation apparatus provided by the present invention has high efficiency, and can prepare a plurality of droplets at one time, and the particle size of the droplets in the generated droplet array was detected, and it was found that the evaluation particle size of the droplets was 21.78 μm, the difference in particle size was very small, indicating that the prepared droplets were uniform in size, as shown in fig. 5.
Comparative example 1
Simulating the movement condition of liquid when a micro-groove cavity in a micro-groove array structure on a micro-groove chip is a cylinder (shown in (a) in fig. 6) and the micro-groove cavity is a skewed slot with a semi-elliptical opening (shown in (b) in fig. 6) by using flow field simulation software FLUENT, namely, the cross section of the micro-groove in (a) in fig. 6 is circular, the longitudinal section of the micro-groove is rectangular, the cross section of the micro-groove in (b) in fig. 6 is semi-elliptical, the longitudinal section of the micro-groove is a general parallelogram, and the micro-groove is a skewed slot; it can be seen that capillary flow is better generated when the micro-grooves are inclined grooves than when they are vertical structures, making it easier to cause liquid to flow into the micro-grooves, resulting in a single droplet.
The above description is of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, but should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention. It should be noted that those skilled in the art can make various improvements and modifications without departing from the principle of the present invention, and such improvements and modifications are also considered to be within the scope of the present invention.