Development and recent advancement in microfluidics for point of care biosensor applications: A review

Abstract

Capillaries are small microscopic channels found in nature predominantly. These flow blood in animals and food, water and nutritions in plants. Mimicking these capillaries scientist discovered the micro channels and named the related study as microfluidics. These microscopic channels/capillaries have wide applications in the area of biomedical instrumentations. Microfluidics work on the combined principles of fluid dynamics, biology, chemistry, microelectronics, physics, and material science. The artificial microfluidics or capillaries can be fabricated using various techniques such as xurography, laser cutting, photolithography, injection moulding, and fast lithographic Activation of Sheets (FLASH). Capillaries have tremendous application, especially in biosensors; from sample collection to the detection of various biomolecules such as nucleic acids, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, other metabolites, etc. This work presents a comprehensive review of the journey of capillary development, milestones achieved, and recent advancements in the area of microfluidics-based biosensors. This review is focused to meet the requirements of the researchers engaged in designing, simulating, and fabricating capillaries for the desired applications. Special insights have been given on the opportunities and challenges in capillary development.

Keywords

• Microfluidics
• Capillary
• Biosensor
• Point-of-care device
• Biomedical applications