Recent advancements in integrated microthermofluidic systems for biochemical and biomedical applications – A review

There has been expeditious growth and advancement in the development of portable, automated, integrated, and miniaturized temperature management systems. Temperature management system plays a vital role in microfluidic technology, an emerging area that couples multidisciplinary fields and manipulates small amounts of fluids (10⁻⁹–10⁻¹⁸ L). A microthermofluidic (MTF) system is designed by combining microfluidics and a thermal management system. The MTF approach harnesses the fluid mechanism to coordinate, manipulate, and merge the reaction sample and provide an effective and efficient desired temperature that plays significant progress in several biochemical, biomedical, and biological applications. This system can accomplish numerous purposes by either varying the reaction conditions within a microchannel or performing reactions in series, parallel, or combinations. Further, these reactions usually require a precise, consistent, and stable temperature, which can be achieved using contact or non-contact heating methods such as electrical, optical, acoustic, and mechanical heating. This work describes thermal energy sources in microfluidic devices and highlights advancements in microthermofluidic devices used for nanoparticle synthesis, biochemical, biomedical, and engineering applications. This work comprehends the general review on recent advances combining microfluidics and thermal management systems. Finally, challenges involved in the extensive use of MTF devices are discussed, and further deliberations for future research in this area are highlighted. The wide range of applications necessitates rapid thermal regulation with significant progressive hints for the biomedical, biotechnological, and chemical sub-areas, relying on the appropriate heating method.