Microsyst Technol
DOI 10.1007/s00542-016-3060-7
TECHNICAL PAPER
A novel research on serpentine microchannels of passive
micromixers
Xueye Chen1 · Tiechuan Li1 · Zengliang Hu1 
Received: 27 March 2016 / Accepted: 30 June 2016
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016
Abstract This paper aims at study and analysis on sam-
ples mixing performance of micromixers with serpentine
microchannels by numerical simulations in depth. The
research on shapes of microchannels is a meaningful issue
for improving the samples mixing index in passive micro-
mixers. Lots of productive numerical analysis show that
the direction of streamlines changes constantly due to the
shape change of microchannels, which enhance molecular
diffusion and increases samples mixing index. The simu-
lation and analysis of six microchannel shapes and further
numerically analyzed the advantages of the square-wave
micromixer have been completed, whose correctness are
proved by several mixing experiments. Lots meaningful
simulations shows that square-wave microchannels are
the best for improving samples mixing among six kinds
of micromixers. Adjusting the ratio of microchannels and
the number of square-wave units is a effective and simple
method to achieve a better mixing performance. It can be
demonstrated that the presented design method of micro-
chanel shape is a simple, flexible and efficient technology
to improve samples mixing in microfluidic devices.
1 Introduction
The increasing interest in chemistry and biology has
heightened the need for design and processing technol-
ogy of Lab-on-a-chip (LOC). As an important technology,
microfluidic chip technology plays a significant role in the
* Xueye Chen
xueye_chen@126.com
1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Automation,
Liaoning University of Technology, Jinzhou 121001, China
discipline of biomedicine and biochemistry, such as cell
isolation and chemical analysis. Samples mixing is a key
function of microfluidic chips. In order to enhance species
mixing, various micromixers have been proposed. Accord-
ing to drive mode, micromixers can be classified into pas-
sive micromixers and active micromixers.
Because external power is required, setting parameters
of active micromixers are complex. But passive micromix-
ers only use geometric shapes or fluid characteristics to
drive samples. Because in most cases the fluid flowing in
the passive micromixer is in laminar flow state, the mixing
is achieved mainly by molecular diffusion. With different
shapes of microchannels, passive micromixers have differ-
ent mixing paths and mixing interfaces between samples.
So researching the shape of microchannels is a significant
issue for enhancing samples mixing in passive micromix-
ers. Numerical simulation based on computational fluid
dynamics has been proved to be reliable for both qualita-
tive and quantitative analysis of flow structures, species
concentration and mixing performance (Chen et al. 2015;
Bertsch et al. 2001; Hinsmann et al. 2001; Cantu-Perez
et al. 2010; Aoki et al. 2011). Some fruitful research work
have been presented to design micromixers by changing
microchannels shape with numerical simulation. Chen
et al. have studied and analyzed species mixing perfor-
mance of micromixers with serpentine microchannels by
numerical simulations and experiments in depth in 2016
(Chen et al. 2016). The 3D serpentine micromixer and the
square-wave micromixer with cubic grooves have been
designed and simulated, and the mixing quality and pres-
sure drop of them were evaluated (Lin 2015). Afzal et al.
proposed an efficient mixing system for a microfluidic plat-
form that uses periodic sinusoidal characteristics in space
and time. A convergent–divergent channel with sinusoidal
walls represented the most effective coupling with pulsatile
13

flow among the five tested geometries (Afzal and Kim
2015). A numerical investigation on mixing and flow struc-
ture in a serpentine microchannel with non-aligned input
channels was performed (Hossain and Kim 2015). Hossain
et al. have conducted a computational fluid dynamic inves-
tigation of mixing performance for three different micro-
channels, i.e., a zigzag, square-wave and curved channels
in 2009 (Hossain et al. 2009). Mixing index was evaluated
to measure the degree of mixing in the micromixer. Pres-
sure drops were also calculated with fixed axial length in
two cases. A trapezoidal-zigzag micromixer composed
of trapezoidal channels in a zigzag and split-recombine
arrangement was presented. The micromixer enables mul-
tiple mixing mechanisms, including splitting–recombining,
twisting, transversal flows, vortices, and chaotic advection
(Ta et al. 2015). Ismagilov et al. respectively used Y-type
micromixer on the theoretical and experimental research
to study the scale effect of the lateral diffusion (Ismagilov
et al. 2000). Chung et al. developed a micro-channel shunt
combined diamond micromixer and applied CFD simula-
tion, and the simulation results achieved in good agree-
ment (Chung and Shih 2008). The results indicated that
the Kriging model predicts the best optimum design with
a mixing index of 92.35 % at the outlet of the micromixer
(Afzal and Kim 2015). Jain et al. analyzed the effect of
groove shape on micromixing performance and search for
the optimal groove shape for a pressure-driven flow across
the microchannel. Various parametric studies are carried
out to compare the optimal groove structure with other
common groove type micromixers for a range of Pe (Jain
et al. 2013). He et al. reported the concept of the serial
lamination micromixer that can be applied to electrokinetic
flows. Utilizing electro-osmosis flows between the multiple
intersecting microchannels, mixing is enhanced clearly (He
et al. 2001). All these works show that a variety of shape
optimization design can effectively improve species mixing
efficiency, however, the design of the passive micromixer
still need further be studied.
In this work, we focuses on the study of the influence
of the microchannel shape on the mixing index of sam-
ples. Six microchannel structures have been designed. Lots
of simulation and analysis were implemented to optimize
micromixers. At last, the optimal micro-channel structure
was achieved and the corresponding development and pros-
pect were presented.
2 Governing equations
The governing equations for isothermal and incompressible
Newtonian fluids in microchannels are continuity equa-
tion and Navier–Stokes equation, which can be expressed,
respectively, in the following:
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Microsyst Technol
∇ ·u=0 (1)
∂u
ρ + ρu · ∇u + ∇p−µ∇ 2 u = 0 (2)
∂t
where u is the velocity vector, ρ the density, t the time, p
the pressure and μ is the dynamic viscosity.
In order to investigate mixing in the micromixer, the
convection–diffusion equation can be used and described
with Eq. (3),
∂c
+ (u · ∇)c = D∇ 2 c (3)
∂t
where c and D are concentration and diffusion coefficient
of the samples, respectively.
Because of short time for samples mixing, we only need
to research the samples in steady state and time items in
Eqs. (2) and (3) are negligible.
To facilitate Studying, it is essential to consider the char-
acteristic dimensionless number Pe (Peclet number). Pe
indicates the ratio between convective mass transport and
diffusion in flow direction and is defined as:
UL
Pe = (4)
D
where Pe represents the ratio of the mass transport between
convection and diffusion. A big Pe number indicates that
the convection dominates over diffusion. u is the average
velocity of stream, D is the diffusion coefficient and L indi-
cates the characteristic length of the flow. For non-circular
pipes, L indicate hydraulic diameter.
3 Numerical formulation
3.1 Six microchannel types: T, mouth, zigzag,
multi‑wave, square‑wave, loop, mouth
In this section, six kinds of microchannel shapes were pre-
sented including T, zigzag, multi-wave, square-wave, loop
and mouth as shown in Fig. 1. The total length of six micro-
channels (L), the width of six microchannels and the num-
ber of repeating units are kept constant for all six geom-
etries, 7800, 200 μm and 3 units respectively. The other
dimensions are as follows: L1  = 835 μm; L2  = 800 μm;
L3  = 1440 μm; L4  = 1630 μm; W1  = 2000 μm;
W2  = 817 μm; W3  = 400 μm; W4  = 1200 μm;
H1 = 887 μm; H2 = 1000 μm; and H = 800 μm.
3.2 Simulation set and mixing index
Simulations were investigated using multi-physics field
simulation software COMSOL 3.5a based on finite element
Microsyst Technol
Fig. 1  Six microchanels of micromixers
theory. The Incompressible Navier–Stokes Module and
Convection–Diffusion Module were chosen in the COM-
SOL software. The fluid density was set as 998.2 kg/m3, the
kinetic viscosity was 1.0 × 10−3 Pa·s, the diffusion coeffi-
cient was 1.0 × 10−9m2/s and the boundary velocity condi-
tions was no-slip. The initial concentration conditions were
set as 0.0 and 1.0 mol/L for two inlets, respectively. The
wall concentration conditions were set as insulation and
symmetry. The outlet boundary condition was convective
Fig.  2  a The local velocity profiles at the outlet with the inlet flow rate of 0.02 m/s and b the mesh system of the zigzag micromixer with 64,393
elements
flux. In this work, we research mainly the two-dimensional
domain situation.
To investigate the degree of mixing, the mixing index of
the species at any cross section in mixing channel is calcu-
lated by means of the formula as follows:
N 
ci − c̄ 2
 
1 
η = 1−  (5)
N c̄
i=1
where, η is the mixing index, N is the total number of sam-
pling points, ci and c̄ are normalized concentration and
expected normalized concentration, respectively. Mixing
index ranges from 0 (0 % mixing) to 1 (100 % mixing, full
mixed).
4 Results and discussions
4.1 Mixing index of six micromixers
It is significant to verify the grid-independent of the solu-
tions. Therefore in order to find out the optimal number of
grids, three structured grid systems, wherein the number of
grids ranged from 23,602 to 98,925, were tested for the zig-
zag micromixer. Finally, 64,393 was chose from the results
of the grid-dependency test as the optimal number of grids.
Figure 2a shows the local velocity profiles at the outlet with
the inlet flow rate of 0.02 m/s. Seen from the figure, 64,393
is the minimum of the elements for meshing the zigzag
micromixer to obtain a mesh-independent solution.
A good mesh system is important for improving the
accuracy of simulation and saving time of calculation. Cor-
respond to Fig. 2a, Fig. 2b shows mesh system of the zig-
zag micromixer with 64,393 elements. In Fig. 2b, the color
legend represented the quality of elements. It shows that
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 Microsyst Technol

the minimum element quality can reach as high as 0.5 and
through statistics the average element was as high as 0.85.
According to FEM theory, it is enough accurate and effec-
tive to solve and analyze the zigzag micromixer. The grid
computing of the other micromixers is same as the zigzag
micromixer’s.
In order to find out the optimal type, six micromix-
ers were emulated at different inlet flow rates. Figure 3a
shows simulations of six micromixers at inlet flow rate of
2500 μm/s and it is easy to know concentrations distribu-
tions. In order to research the influence of microchannels’
structures on mixing performance of micromixers, Fig. 3b
shows the mixing index at outlet of six micromixers at dif-
ferent flow rates.
Seen from Fig. 3b, it is easy to know the square-wave
microchannel is the optimal solution at any kind of flow
(a)
rate. The range of mixing index of six micromixers are as
follows: the square-wave >the multi-wave >the zigzag >the
T >the mouth >the loop. What’s more, we also know that
the mixing index of any micromixer decrease with the
increase of flow rate. That’s because the molecular diffu-
sion of samples becomes weaker with the increase of flow
rate, which leads to the decline of mixing index.
In this study, a CNC engraving and milling machine
(DBSP-6050, Fortuna Mectronic Technology Co., Ltd.
Beijing) was used to fabricate microchannels. The preci-
sion control of machine processing needs to be realized
by the control system and all the processing is carried
out under the control of numerical control instruction.
Control panel of the CNC machine includes the power
control device, cutting speed button, revolving speed but-
ton, emergency stop button and servo power button. The
operation panel is clearly understood to be easy to operate.
The machine is equipped with a programming system (NC
system) which is an important part of machine processing
and directly affects the processing quality and production
efficiency. Automatic programming combining computer
and CAD technology to complete NC programming was
conveniently used in the machine. Firstly software CAXA
2011 was used to draw the graphics what you want to pro-
cess, then the graphics file was input into computer and
displayed on the screen. Finally using software Cimatron
IT and the CAM system of the machine, the process of the

(b) 65
60
T
zigzag
55 multi-wave
square wave
50 loop
Mixing index (%)

mouth
45

40

35

30

25

20
2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 20000 22000
Flow rate (µm/s)

Fig.  3  a Simulations of six micromixers at inlet flow rate of

2500 μm/s and b mixing index at outlet of six micromixers at differ- Fig. 4  Mixing experiment of the mouth micromixer at the flow
ent flow rates velocity of 400 µm/s

13
Microsyst Technol
trajectory data extraction, trajectory planning, simulation
and interference check were completed automatically until
requirements, Ф0.2 mm milling cutter was the best choice.
the processing program generated. According to the design
The cutting speed (V) should be about 1500 mm per min,
the revolving speed (ω) should be about 10,000 rpm, and
the operating voltage should be 380 V with the error being
below 10 V.
After cutting PMMA sheets and cleaning them with an
ultrasonic cleaner, the hot embossing and bonding machine
was used to complete the chip production. In our labora-
tory, the hot embossing and bonding machine (WH-2000,
Su Zhou Wenhao Chip Technology Co., Ltd. Suzhou prov-
ince) was very convenient and practical. Hot-pressing
temperature, time and bonding pressure are main control
parameters, which are convenient to been adjusted by set-
ting buttons of the machine. Hot embossing and bonding is
a careful skill that involves placing two polished stainless
steel plates between the pressure applicators and PMMA
sheets, which is necessary to keep the PMMA sheets clean
and smooth. After multiple trials and tests, hot-pressing
Fig. 5  The flow regime of the inlets and the outlets of six micromix-
ers at different flow rates
Fig. 6  Schematic illustration of
the micromixer with six square-
wave units
temperature, time and bonding pressure were appropriately
set to 105 °C, 10 min and about 0.6Mpa, respectively.
Figure  4 illustrates Mixing experiment of the mouth
micromixer at the flow velocity of 400 µm/s. Blue ink and
red ink were used as two liquid species for mixing. To
deliver controlled and continuous flows, two liquid spe-
cies were transfused into the micromixer through a syringe
pump (LSP04-1A, Baoding Longer electronic technology
co., LTD. Hebei province). The microscopic pictures sys-
tem with a digital smart camera (Smart V350D) installed
on a stereoscopic microscope was used to measure the con-
centration profiles of the species. The camera was fitted on
the microscope to take optical images by processing with
a data acquisition, which was stored as files on a personal
computer.
Figure 5 shows the flow regime of the inlets and the out-
lets of six micromixers at different flow velocities.
As seen from Fig. 5, as the rate of flow increases, the
diffusion at the inlets is weaker and laminar flow is more
clear. So mixing performance is worse at the outlets. But
mix of six micromixers presented differently at the same
flow rate. It is clear that the square-wave micromixer has
an advantage in mixing than the other micromixers. It is
followed by the multi-wave micromixer, the zigzag micro-
mixer, the T micromixer, the mouth micromixer and the
loop micromixer in sequenc. That is, the correctness of the
above numerical simulations were proved by the mixing
experiments.
4.2 Simulations of micromixers with six square‑wave
units
As been shown in Sect. 4.1, the square-wave micromixer
has better performance than other micromixers. In order
to improve the mixing performance even more, we carried
out in-depth study the mixing performance of micromixers
with six square-wave units, which are defined as follows:
Figure 6 shows the geometric configuration of the micro-
mixer with six square-wave units. The length of inlets (Q),
the width of the microchannel, the spacing (M) and the
length of the outlet are kept constant, 1200, 200, 400 and
600 μm respectively. By changing the ratio between N and
M, three micromixers are obtained, namely, the square-wave1
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 Microsyst Technol

(a) micromixer, the square-wave1.5 micromixer and the square-

wave2 micromixer. In three cases, N is 400, 600 and 800 μm.
Figure  7a shows simulations of three micromixers at
inlet flow rate of 2500 μm/s and the concentrations dis-
tributions are obtained. In order to research the influence
of the ratio between N and M on mixing performance of
micromixers, Fig. 7b shows the mixing index at outlet of
three micromixers at different flow rates.
Seen from Fig. 7b, it is easy to know the square-wave2
(b) 90 micromixer performs better than the other two at any kind
of flow rate. The range of mixing index of three micro-
80
mixers are as follows: the square-wave2 >the square-
wave1.5 >the square-wave1. That’s because the mixing path
of samples becomes longer with the increase of the ratio
Mixing index (%)

70 square-wave2
square-wave1.5
between N and M, which improves the mixing index.
square-wave1
60
4.3 Numerical simulations of micromixers
with different square‑wave units
50

Adding more square-wave units is another convenient

40 method to enhance mixing index. In this section, three
micromixers with different square-wave units are emulated,
0 2500 5000 7500 10000 12500 15000 17500 20000 22500 namely, SW3 micromixer, SW6 micromixer and SW12
Flow rate (µm/s)
micromixer. Sizes of SW3 micromixer and SW6 micro-
mixer are equal to the square-wave micromixer in Sect. 3.1
Fig.  7  a Simulations of three micromixers at inlet flow rate of and the square-wave2 micromixer in Sect. 4.2.
2500 μm/s and b mixing index at outlet of three micromixers at dif-
ferent flow rates
Figure  8a shows simulations of three micromixers
at inlet flow rate of 2500 μm/s and the concentrations

Fig.  8  a Simulations of three (a)

micromixers at inlet flow rate of
2500 μm/s and b mixing index
at outlet of three micromixers at
different flow rates

(b) 100
95
90
85 SW3
80 SW6
Mixing index (%)

75 SW12
70
65
60
55
50
45
40
35
30
2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 20000 22000

Flow rate (µm/s)

13
Microsyst Technol

Table 1  Mixing index at different flow rate and Pe 4.4 Numerical research on the micromixer with 15
Flow rate (m/s) Pe Mixing index (%) square‑wave units (SW15)

0.005 1000 93.4 In order to verify the correctness of the conclusion, I con-
0.01 2000 85.4 tinue to increase the mixing unit to 15. Table 1 quantifica-
0.05 10,000 72.5 tionally shows the mixing index of the SW15 micromixer at
0.1 20,000 70.3 different flow rate and Pe.
0.5 100,000 82.8 Based on Table 1; Fig. 9 intuitively shows numerical
1 200,000 92.0 simulation of the SW15 micromixer at Pe = 400,000 and
1.5 300,000 93.5 mixing index under different Pe.
2 400,000 93.7 Seen from Fig. 9a, it is easy to know the mixing is per-
fact. Figure 9b shows the mixing index at outlet of the
SW15 by calculating the outlet mixing date based on Eq. (5)
distributions are presented. In order to research the influ- at different Pe. It is obvious that the increase of the ratio
ence of the number of square-wave units on mixing perfor- between N and M and square-wave unit is effective to
mance of micromixers, Fig. 8b shows the mixing index at enhance mixing index of micromixers. Seen from Fig. 9,
outlet of three micromixers at different flow rates. the SW15 micromixer performs well at a wide range of Pe.
Seen from Fig. 8b, it is easy to know the SW12 micro- At low Pe, the mixing is limited by molecular diffusion and
mixer performs best among the three micromixer at any the intensity of diffusion is weaker with increasing Pe, so
kind of flow rate. The range of mixing index of three the mixing efficiency decreases. But at high Pe, convec-
micromixers are as follows: the SW3<the SW6<the tion dominates gradually the mix with the increase of Pe,
SW12. Because the mixing path of samples becomes and the intensity of convection is stronger with increasing
longer with the increase of the number of square-wave Pe. So in Fig. 9b, the mixing efficiency decreases first and
units, the samples have longer time to mix, which then increases with increasing Pe. Because the square-wave
improves the mixing index. What’s more, more turns in structure is easy to process and improves the mixing effi-
the micromixer increase the mixing interface between ciency obviously. It is significative to control number of
samples, which enhances mixing performance of the square-wave unit and the ratio between N and M in the
micromixer. research of micromixer.

Fig.  9  a Simulation of (a)

the SW15 micromixer at
Pe = 400,000 b mixing index
under different Pe

(b)
95

90
Mixing index (%)

85

80

75

70

1000 10000 100000

Pe

13

5 Conclusions
We conducted lots of intensive numerical study to evalu-
ate the performance of micromixers with serpentine micro-
channels. It is easy to know the mixing index in sequence
is: square-wave > multi-wave > zigzag > T > mouth > loop.
From the result of simulations, we also draw the conclusion
that the micromixer with square-wave microchannels can
obtain a better mixing index than others. Further numerical
analysis of square wave units shows that adjusting the ratio
of microchannels and the number of square-wave units is a
effective and simple method to achieve a better mixing per-
formance. Based on the research of SW15, the SW15 micro-
mixer performs well at a wide range of Pe. At low Pe, the
mixing is limited by molecular diffusion and the intensity
of diffusion is weaker with increasing Pe, so the mixing
efficiency decreases. But at high Pe, convection dominates
gradually the mix with the increase of Pe, and the intensity
of convection is stronger with increasing Pe. So the mix-
ing index decreases first and then increases with increas-
ing Pe. Because of easy processing and flexible operation,
these serpentine micromixers have potential applications
especially in the microfluidic system integration and micro
chemical-reaction devices.
Acknowledgments  This work was supported by Liaoning Province
Doctor Startup Fund (20141131), Fund of Liaoning Province Educa-
tion Administration (L2014241), and the Fund in Liaoning University
of Technology (X201301).
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