A fabrication method of microneedle molds with controlled microstructures.

Microneedle (MN) offers an attractive, painless and minimally invasive approach for transdermal drug delivery. Polymer microneedles are normally fabricated by using the micromolding method employing a MN mold, which is suitable for mass production due to high production efficiency and repeat-using of the mold. Most of the MN molds are prepared by pouring sylgard polymer over a MN master to make an inverse one after curing, which is limited in optimizing or controlling the MN structures and failing to keep the sharpness of MNs. In this work we describe a fabrication method of MN mold with controlled microstructures, which is meaningful for the fabrication of polymer MNs with different geometries. Laser micro-machining method was employed to drill on the surface of PDMS sheets to obtain MN molds. In the fabrication process, the microstructures of MN molds are precisely controlled by changing laser parameters and imported patterns. The MNs prepared from these molds are sharp enough to penetrate the skin. This scalable MN mold fabrication method is helpful for future applications of MNs.