Figure 1.

Overview of μFT. The fabrication of a hydrogel jacket valve in a T channel is illustrated as an example in the schematics. (A) After the reservoir is filled with the prepolymer mixture of a structural material (blue), it is exposed to UV light through a photomask. (B) After flushing away the unpolymerized mixture, a T channel and a cylindrical post were fabricated in parallel. (C) After the T channel is filled with the prepolymer mixture of a stimuli-responsive hydrogel (green), it is exposed to UV light again through a second photomask. (D) After removing the unpolymerized mixture, a hydrogel jacket valve is fabricated within a T channel. Channel fabrication and component fabrication are combined via parallel or sequential polymerization to build a functional complex system.