Capillary-driven flow microfluidics has been developed predominantly for biomedical applications, e.g., numerical modelling of capillary-driven flow for polymerase chain reactions (PCR) inside capillaries was performed [28]. The authors modelled PCR in hydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannels via computational fluid dynamics (CFD) which were also experimentally tested to compare results, as shown in Figure 2a. PCR mixture was introduced into the microchannels, and the liquid meniscus was recorded to fill all the channels in 12 s, which matched well with the modelled meniscus movements. In another development, capillary-driven flow devices were built to measure the viscosity of the fluid based on capillary action in microchannels [29,30]. A micromachined polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) chip was used to create a capillary flow inside microchannels, and the meniscus was monitored via an automated optical system (Figure 2b) [29]. In this study, a small volume (26 µL) of the sample was loaded into the microchannels, and viscosity was measured by recording the fluid travel time between two fixed points. In contrast, Lee et al. [30] developed a capillary flow microfluidics device to measure zebrafish blood viscosity in microchannels (Figure 2c). The device was able to use small sample volumes (2 µL) and conduct continuous measurements to study the viscosity changes during embryonic development. Furthermore, the device was able to draw up fluids at higher shear rates, and the measurements were achieved in less than 2 min. Such optically enabled capillary flow systems have the capacity to be used as portable systems for POC diagnostics and analysis in chemical/pharmaceutical industries.

Polymethyl methacrylate was also used to fabricate a capillary flow device for nucleic acid biosensing applications having small microfluidic channels consisting of sealed reagent-loaded pads [31]. The system was incorporated with magnetic nanoparticles, which were released upon sample entry into the microchannel, and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and hydrogen peroxide were mixed in a channel yielding potentiostat detectable species. This type of biosensor based on capillary-driven flow has the potential of miniaturization and commercialization for POC applications. Open microfluidics channels have also been developed for capillary flow [32], but they have disadvantages, such as sample evaporation, contamination and handling difficulties. Therefore, open microfluidics is not discussed further in this review, which is instead focused on capillary flow inside closed microchannels and capillaries.

Several biomedically relevant biomarkers were studied via capillary-driven flow microfluidics [33,34,35,36,37,38]. A capillary flow immunoassay microchip was developed by Fuchiwaki et al. [33] to quantify procollagen type I C-peptide from blood samples. Laser ablation was used to immobilize the antibody on the surface of the PMMA microchannels, which allowed the reaction via movement of liquid in the channels, as shown in the schematic (Figure 2d) [33]. The liquid sample was dropped on the channel inlets which travelled towards the antibody-coated region via capillary force, incubated and flushed out via the outlet and paper absorption. Different concentrations of the peptide (0–600 ng mL⁻¹) were calibrated by multiplexing the channels on a single platform and injecting them into parallel microchannels (Figure 2d). Enzyme inhibitor assays were also developed on capillary flow systems to enable single-step analysis and multiplex them for commercial purposes (Figure 2e) [34]. The device was made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and was named a “combinable PDMS capillary sensor”. In this study, fluorescent substrates were immobilized on the membrane in the microchannels and the enzyme inhibitor solution is drawn into the microchannel via capillary force. The inhibitor solution dissolves into the membrane where the reactions occur, and detection is performed in an optically clear microchannel. This method shows the potential to multiply the assays by simply cutting long PDMS microchips coated with reagents and flowing samples in parallel. A similar PDMS capillary flow device [35] was also developed for the detection of serum biomarkers, such as glucose, potassium and alkaline phosphate assay (ALP). In this device, the PDMS was mixed with a black reagent (India ink) to render the PDMS black, and the channel surface was coated with silver layers to enhance the fluorescent signals and sensitivity of the assay (Figure 2f). The sample was introduced into the microchannels via capillary flow, and the intensities of three biomarkers were attained in parallel (Figure 2f).

Huang et al. [36] developed a capillary flow device for DNA probe detection using ordered silicon microcapillary array to control the flow of the liquid. The authors simply placed a drop of sample on the inlet (20 µL) which travelled in the microchannel with DNA probe spots (100 nL) and achieved rapid DNA detection. Recently, Soares et al. [37] developed an ultrasensitive and single-step capillary flow device for biosensing applications. The authors used bead-based technology to control the capillary flow and performed a competitive assay using only a 4.5 µL sample. The system is robust and bears a huge potential for POC diagnostics due to its turn time of 70 s per assay.

Additionally, the capillary flow has also been used for blood plasma separation in microfluidic channels [38,39,40], such as that developed by Madadi et al. [38], to separate plasma using 5 µL of the sample, generating a plasma of 0.1 µL for diagnostic applications. The authors used microchannel-integrated micropillars to confine red blood cells and validated the separation via the detection of thyroid-stimulating hormone. Delamarche’s group [39,40] further developed plasma separation attached with immunodiagnostic devices, where C-reactive protein (CRP) was quantified by using 5 µL of human serum extracted from a blood sample and 3.6 nL of reagents solution deposited on the chip [39]. The system was able to detect low concentrations within 3 min by flowing the liquid via capillary force in the microchannels. Furthermore, a capillary flow bead-based immunoassay device for diagnostics has also been developed by the same lab [40]. These types of devices offer multiple biomedical applications with a possibility of detection via smartphones or handheld devices.

Glass capillaries, which are widely available in the market, were also utilized for capillary flow. Lapierre et al. [41] used bare glass capillaries to collect blood samples in the capillaries, as shown in Figure 2g. The authors generated profiles of blood movement in vertical capillaries, studied the effect of ageing of glass on the liquid rise and modelled the liquid rise parameters using standard equations (Equations (1)–(3)). However, fabrication of glass microchannels for POC applications is generally costly and requires tedious glass intrusions and solvent bonding. In contrast, fluoropolymer microcapillaries (FEP) have been coated with reagents to achieve hydrophilic surface inside the capillaries which can load aqueous samples rapidly (Figure 2h) [16,42,43,44,45]. Pivetal et al. [42] converted the surface of FEP microcapillaries by coating with a layer of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and cross-linked reagents for analyte detections (colorimetric or fluorescent), such as the detection of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) [43,44] and cytokines [45]. These FEP capillaries were injected with multiple solutions, such as PSA standard, detection antibodies, enzyme complex, washing solutions and enzymatic substrates, which were injected in all channels simultaneously. Additionally, FEP microcapillaries were placed vertically in the blood sample to draw up the liquid for ABO blood typing [16]. When the liquid rose into the capillaries, the reagents were released into the sample fluid and reacted with biomarkers to produce colour/fluorescent signal, which was detected via microscope or portable/smartphone systems. FEP microcapillaries illustrate a great potential for integration into point-of-care testing devices and offer the possibility of inexpensive biochemical analyses.

3. Conclusions and Future Challenges