The development of a microfluidic blood oxygenator with four-sided gas transfer channels

© 2019 CBMS-0001. Microfluidic blood oxygenator devices typically have had one or two sides exposed to oxygen through a thin membrane which results in less than optimal performance of these devices as compared to their macroscale hollow fiber counterparts. Using microfabrication technology to fabricate thin membranes surrounding all four sides of a microfluidic channel network is expected to significantly enhance the oxygenation capability but is a fabrication challenge. Here, we show the fabrication and testing of the first four-sided microfluidic blood oxygenator (fsMBO) and compare it with its double-sided counterparts (dsMBO) showing up to 226 % improvement in oxygenation performance over the dsMBO.