Design and Fabrication of a Microfluidic Device for Synthesis of Chitosan Nanoparticles

Chitosan nanoparticles have a biodegradable, biocompatible, nontoxic structure, and are commonly used for drug delivery systems. In this study, design, modeling, and fabrication methodology of a microfluidic device for the synthesis of chitosan nanoparticles is presented. In the modeling, 2D flow and concentration field is computed using COMSOL Multiphysics R simulation environment to predict the performance of the device. The microfluidic chip is fabricated out of PDMS. The fabrication of the mold for the microfluidic device is performed using high-precision micromachining. Some preliminary proofof-concept experiments were performed. It was observed that compared to conventional batch-type methods, the proposed microfluidic device can perform the synthesis much faster and in a much automated and convenient manner. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4026287]