How the capillary burst microvalve works

The capillary burst microvalve offers an attractive means to regulate microliquid flow owing to its simple structure and operation process. However, there existed no rigorous theoretical work to elucidate how the valve works and consequently to predict the valve-bursting condition. Therefore, here we report the theoretical investigation of how the capillary burst valve can stop the advancing liquid meniscus and when it bursts. We confirm our theory with experiments using a centrifugal microfluidic valve system fabricated by soft lithography.

Graphical abstractWe provide a theoretical framework to explain how the capillary burst valve, as shown in this figure, works.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide