Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology 63 (2021) 102477

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Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jddst

Research paper

Design and optimization of a microneedle with skin insertion analysis for

transdermal drug delivery applications
Md Asadujjaman Sawon *, Mst Fateha Samad
Department of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering, Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology, Rajshahi, 6204, Bangladesh

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Effectively delivering the drugs through the human skin with less pain and reducing the chance of tissue damage
Silicon carbide are the main attributes of a microneedle. This paper presents an out-of-plane single silicon carbide (SiC)
Microneedle microneedle having six lumens for drug passing. The total length of the proposed microneedle is about 350 μm
Lumens
with the inner diameter of 30 μm and the outer diameter of 52 μm. COMSOL multiphysics software is used to
COMSOL multiphysics
analyze the performances of the proposed microneedle. The simulated durability of the microneedle is investi­
Skin model
gated by applying the axial load which generates less stress and deformation. Then, an optimized microneedle tip
is designed which reduce pain during insertion. The flow analyses of various viscosity based fluids inside the
microneedle are also investigated. Among the selected fluids, the flow of the ibuprofen shows a lowest velocity
distribution because of its high dynamic viscosity. The maximum flow rates of ibuprofen are found as 0.01 μL/
min and 0.9 μL/min while the inlet pressure are 10 kPa and 100 kPa respectively. On the contrary, a low viscosity
fluid such as water provides flow rates of 45.24 μL/min and 433.49 μL/min at same inlet pressures. To verify the
performances of our proposed microneedle, a skin model consisting three layers of stratum corneum, epidermis
and dermis is designed. Simulation results confirm that the proposed microneedle successfully penetrated the
skin model and remains unbroken.

1. Introduction
Drug delivery systems (DDS) are the technologies by which a
controlled release of therapeutic substances can be delivered to the
target area. Different possible routes can be used to transport the drugs
into the cells and the tissues of the body. The routes are classified by
their starting points at which they are administrated into the body. The
routes are: buccal, ocular, oral, nasal, pulmonary, sublingual, anal, and
transdermal. Among them, transdermal route has many advantages such
as improved bioavailability, reduced side effects, eliminating of hepatic
first pass, improved patient compliance, degradation in the gastroin­
testinal tract, uniform drug plasma concentration and so on [1]. The
other route of oral drug delivery has not only first-pass effect but also
causes nausea and vomiting. Toxicity to the nasal mucosa and nasal
irritation can be occurred during nasal drug delivery system. In addition,
poor patient compliance and blurred vision might be risen due to the
ocular drug delivery system. Therefore, transdermal is selected as an
efficient route to deliver the drugs. Transdermal drug delivery system
(TDDS) is a one kind of drug delivery mechanism that transport a
predetermined amount of drug across the skin. Most of the TDDS are
designed to release active ingredients for a period of several hours to few
days to the skin layers at a zero order rate [2].
Specific and targeting drugs can be administered by TDDS through
the transdermal route to attain superior drug performance and patient
comfort. Drugs in TDDS reservoir is usually in liquid form even though
the available drug dosage forms are solid, semi-soild, liquid, and gas.
The choice of the ideal dosage form for a drug depends on the delivery
method. Liquid dosage forms ranging from syrups to topical serums to
solutions can change in viscosity of their final mixture. The formulation
of drugs into a TDDS requires a proper choice of biological and physi­
cochemical properties. The superior drug candidates for TDDS must
have non-ionic property with a low melting point, low molecular
weight, good potency, pH value of ranging from five to nine [3–5].
Transdermal drug delivery is routed by percutaneous absorption
process. The percutaneous absorption process consists of some sequen­
tial steps: absorption of the penetrating molecule into the stratum cor­
neum surface, diffusion between the stratum corneum and the
epidermis, and finally, diffusion through the papillary layer of the

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: ajshawonruet@gmail.com, 1504027@student.ruet.ac.bd (M.A. Sawon).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jddst.2021.102477
Received 20 October 2020; Received in revised form 4 March 2021; Accepted 7 March 2021
Available online 11 March 2021
1773-2247/© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
M.A. Sawon and M.F. Samad
dermis (e.g. three main layers of the skin are stratum corneum,
epidermis and dermis). In this approach, the transport of the drug
molecules takes place rapidly and effectively through the deeper dermal
layers and into the systemic circulation when the drug molecules cross
the barrier of the stratum corneum. Additionally, it is stated that the
drug transportation rate depends not only its aqueous solubility and its
concentration but also the thickness of the stratum corneum [2].
Different methods have been recommended to deliver the drugs with
the transdermal route over the past few years. These methods are hy­
podermic needles, jet injectors, chemical penetration enhancer, sono­
phoresis, iontophoresis, microneedles and so on [6]. The common
traditional method of the transdermal drug delivery system is hypo­
dermic needle [7]. During penetration, the hypodermic needle goes
deep of the skin and makes a harmful contact with sensory organs which
cause a remarkable tissue damage and pain [8]. In addition, most of the
methods are not used due to the user difficulties, complexity, and high
cost. To overcome the drawbacks of these conventional methods, an
advanced technology of using microneedle has been selected.
Microneedle is a micron sized needle which can penetrate the stra­
tum corneum without contacting the nerves. The length of a micro-
electromechanical system (MEMS)-based microneedle is less than 1
mm which is smaller compared to the conventional needle. In respect to
design variation, microneedle can be solid or hollow. Solid microneedle
produces high absorbency of the drugs into the skin by following two
steps: (i) the microneedle is inserted into the skin and removed, (ii) after
removal, a drug formulation is applied [9]. Conversely, hollow micro­
needle containing an inner-lumen directly transport the drugs into the
skin. Hollow microneedle is used to deliver the drug as long as the drug
compounds are in suitable liquid formulation. Microneedle can also be
classified into in-plane microneedle and out-of-plane microneedle based
on the fabrication procedure. For in-plane microneedle, the substrate
plane is parallel to the microneedle body. On the other hand, the sub­
strate plane is normal to the microneedle body for the out-of-plane
microneedle. The geometry of the out-of-plane microneedle is more
preferable than in-plane microneedle because of the simplicity of the
fabrication [10].
In literature, many researchers conducted the structural and the
fluidic analysis of the out-of-plane microneedle. For example, Bodhale
et al. [10] presented a hollow out-of-plane microneedle with side-open
holes for transdermal drug delivery (TDD) applications. Polyglicolide
acid (PGA) as the structural material was selected for the microneedle.
This work also proposed a suitable fabrication process with an inte­
grated drug reservoir. A simple and efficient design of hollow SU-8
microneedle was designed by Mishra et al. [11]. It was mentioned that
cylindrical body with sharp tip of microneedle was enough to pierce the
skin easily and successfully. In another study, different geometrical
factors of solid microneedle using parametric sweep in COMSOL Mul­
tiphysics were analyzed [12]. The structural material of this micro­
needle was polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). Furthermore, García
et al. [13] introduced a novel transdermal drug delivery device with an
out-of-plane microneedle. The structural analysis was performed with
nickel and silicon carbide (SiC). In this work, the fluid flow analysis was
observed to investigate the pressure distribution inside the micro­
needle’s lumen. Another out-of-plane microneedle model was charac­
terized with different loading criteria by Kanakaraj et al. [14]. It was
showed that SiC was the superior material out of 10 selected materials
for this designed model.
Moreover, many researchers have analyzed the insertion process of
the microneedle with a skin model. For instance, Chen et al. [15]
established a non-linear finite element based skin model and analyzed
the performance of the microneedle being inserted into the model. The
force displacement behavior of the microneedle during insertion was
observed in this study. In another study, a complete insertion process of
the microneedle into the human skin model was investigated [16]. A
multi-layered skin model was designed to conduct this study and the
complete insertion process was observed using non-linear finite method.
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Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology 63 (2021) 102477
Moreover, a hollow microneedle and skin interact model addressing
finite element approach were presented by Roxhed et al. [17]. This study
investigated the microneedle and skin interaction behavior. Addition­
ally, a microneedle geometry with the penetration process was simu­
lated by Davis et al. [18]. It showed the effect of the needle geometry on
the insertion force and performed additional analysis based on the
needle characteristics.
In our study, an advanced microneedle is designed and different
simulation analyses mentioned in above works are performed. The
structural mechanics of the microneedle is observed and the fluidic
analysis is investigated using different viscosity based fluids. Moreover,
a three-layered skin model is generated to conduct the microneedle
insertion process using the non-linear finite method based COMSOL
multiphysics software. The force displacement behaviors of the micro­
needle are also investigated during the insertion into the skin model.
This paper is presented with the following order: Section II provides
the theoretical analysis of the structural mechanics and the fluidic me­
chanics of the microneedle. Section III presents the design of our pro­
posed microneedle. Simulated results are given in Section IV. Section V
contains a discussion where our simulated results are compared with the
existing works. Finally, Section VI concludes this work.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Material
SiC has been emerged as an unique material in biomedical micro­
system because it exhibits a great comibination of mechanical, electrical
and chemical properties. The superior tribological properties, chemical
intertness, osseointegration comparable to hydroxyapatite and well-
known hemocompatibilty make SiC a very compatible for in-vitro bio­
sensors, biologically interconnected neural networks, and intelligent
implantable medical devices [19]. Moreover, SiC is used as an attractive
structural material in MEMS applications [13,14]. In this work, SiC
material is chosen for the microneedle because of its biocompatibility
and outstanding mechanical properties. The biocompatibility of SiC can
be determined by cultivating mammalian cells directly on SiC substrate
and accessing the efficiency and proliferation of the resulting cell
adhesion. Indeed, SiC is a very promising material with better
bio-performance for bio-applications including transdermal drug de­
livery [20].
2.2. Structural mechanics
During skin insertion, an axial load works on the microneedle tip.
This axial load is basically called the compressive force which causes
buckling of the microneedle. The buckling may fail the action of the
microneedle. To reduce buckling, the design of the microneedle tip
should be sharped. Also, the tip of the microneedle may break for
experiencing the skin resistance force. It can cause undesirable effects on
the health. Therefore, it is important to determine the stability of a
microneedle with its structural analysis. Moreover, the skin resistance
force has to be smaller than the axial load to pierce the microneedle into
the skin [10,21].
2.2.1. Puncturing force into the skin
The required force to puncture the skin is given by Ref. [9]:
FSkin = PPuncturing . A (1)
where, PPuncturing is the skin puncturing pressure which is 3.16 MPa and A
is the tip area of the microneedle which is expressed as [22]:
A = π R2 (2)
where, R is the tip radius.
M.A. Sawon and M.F. Samad
2.2.2. Compressive force
The maximum compressive force with which the microneedle can
withstand without breaking, is given as [10]:
FCompressive = σ y . A
where, σy is the yield strength of the material. The skin insertion pres­
sure of 3.16 MPa is the applied axial load on the microneedle tip. If the
generated stress with the axial load is below the yield strength of the
material then the microneedle will penetrate into the skin without any
failure or breakage.
2.3. Fluidic mechanics
The rate of drug delivery significantly depends on the structure of the
microneedle. Due to the micron structure, a resistance in the needle may
be arised. If a desirable rate of drug transportation is required, then the
structural parameters such as microneeedle length, inner diameter and
outer diameter must be considered. Moreover, the pressure drop inside
the microneedle is an important factor that contributes the drug flow
inside the lumens. To calculate the fluid flow through the microneedle,
Poiseuillie’s law of a fluid flow for a cylinder can be considered. The
Poiseuillie’s law can be expressed as [10]:
π d4 (ΔP)
q=
128 μ (L1 )
where, q is the flow rate of the drug through the microneedle, d is the
inner diameter of the microneedle, ΔPis the pressure drop inside the
lumen, μ is the dynamic viscosity of the drug at 25 ◦ C, and L1 is the
length of the lumen of the microneedle.
2.4. Design of the microneedle
The proposed microneedle is designed with COMSOL software. The
designed microneedle consists of three parts including needle base,
needle body, and needle tip. The needle base is the lower part of the
microneedle. The needle body is the middle cylindrical part of the
miconeedle. The geometry of this part provides the robustness of the
microneedle during the skin insertion. The needle tip is the upper
conical part which is ultra sharp for piercing skin tissues [10]. The
length of our proposed out-of-plane microneedle is 350 μm with the
inner and outer diameter of 30 μm and 52 μm respectively. The main
feature of the microneedle is the six side ports. In this design, two
side-open holes are placed in the conical part and others four have been
kept in the cylindrical body. Since the side ports in the conical part are in
a distance from the tip, hence no issue will be appared during the
excessive applied pressure on the tip. The lumen areas are kept in a
distance from one into another to maintain a unique drug delivery
approach. Fig. 1(a) displays the different parts of the microneedle and
Fig. 1(b) shows the dimesion of the microneedle with the transparent
Fig. 1. Configuration of the designed microneedle.
Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology 63 (2021) 102477
view. The inside lumen design of the microneedle is presented in Fig. 1
(c).
3. Simulated results
(3)
3.1. Simulated results for the structural analysis
The designed microneedle is simulated with non-linear finite
method. Various boundary conditions have been applied during simu­
lation. Different types of loads either in the axial direction or in the
transversal direction are used on the microneedle tip. Basically, the axial
load (compressive force) is applied in the z direction on the microneedle
tip by keeping the base as fixed. If the generated stress due to the
applying load is less than the yield strength of the material then the
microneedle can penetrate into the skin without any failure. To observe
this performance, an axial load of 3.16 MPa is applied on the z direction.
The outcome of this performance is shown in Fig. 2(a). It is observed that
the maximum stress is generated at the tip surface and the minimum
stress is distributed to the needle body and base. The generated stress at
the tip is found as 2.71 MPa which is below the yield strength of SiC.
Therefore the microneedle will not be damaged with the applied axial
load of 3.16 MPa (skin insertion pressure). Hence, it can penetrate the
human skin if the skin pressure is applied on the z direction. Moreover,
the axial load gives the value of the deformation of SiC microneedle (see
(4) Fig. 2(b)). As the obtained displacement is very low (approx. 0.0001 μm)
for applying the axial load, this microneedle can be operated painlessly
for transdermal drug delivery applications.
Additionally, pain reduction at the time of insertion is a great chal­
lenge for a microneedle. The geometry of the microneedle tip is the most
considerable parameter to control this issue. The values of different tip
surface can create different pressure distribution area, therefore
different stresses can generate on the skin after the applied load. Fig. 3
(a) shows the variation of stress due to the changing microneedle tip
surface area at fixed boundary condition. Initially stress increases with
the increase of tip surface. Maximum stress of 6.00E+6 Pa is obtained at
tip surface of 28 μm2. Then the stress rapidly decreases with the increase
of tip surface. And stress becomes almost constant at and above the tip
surface value of 50.26 μm2. Displacement is another factor that lies with
the stress distribution during penetration. High displacement of micro­
needle can produce much pain, can damage the skin tissues, and can
break itself accidently [13]. The value of the displacement by changing
the tip surface is displayed in Fig. 3(b). Fig. 3(b) demonstrates that
displacement increase linearly with the tip surface. From Fig. 3(a) and
(b), it is decided that our proposed microneedle with the tip surface of
50.26 μm2 produce less stress with less displacement. Therefore, this
structure of microneedle can create a painless insertion into the human
skin without breakage.
3
M.A. Sawon and M.F. Samad Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology 63 (2021) 102477

Fig. 2. (a) Stress due to the axial loading on the needle tip and (b) Deformation due to the axial loading on the needle tip.

Fig. 3. (a) Variation of stress with the tip surface area and (b) Variation of displacement with the tip surface area.

3.2. Simulated results for the fluidic analysis
In this work, various fluids are used to perform the fluidic analysis.
The fluidic analyses are done with water, lidocaine, ibuprofen, ethanol
and glucose. The solution of lidocaine can be prepared by mixing lido­
caine with the appropriate equimolar amount (1:1) of salicylic acid,
dissolved in methanol, and stirred for 2 h at the room temperature [23].
The ibuprofen solution can be prepared by adding an excess quantity of
ibuprofen in 100 ml of conductivity water and heating the solution for
30 min maintained at 50 ◦ C [24]. Moreover, stock solutions of 1 mol. L− 1
glucose can be prepared in triply distilled water [25]. The viscosity and
density of different fluids are different. Table 1 shows the properties of
the fluids used in this simulation work. The reason for choosing these
fluids is that some of them can be used in the transdermal drug delivery
applications.
The fluidic analysis is performed for the applying inlet pressure in the
range of 10 kPa–100 kPa as it is recommended for different micro­
pumping devices [26]. Moreover, the outlet pressure is considered as
zero (0 kPa) because of the negligible pressure at the microneedle’s
outlet [26]. This work illustrates the uniform distribution of the pressure
inside the microneedle. It is also found that the pressure drop increases
with the distance between the inlet and the outlets. The inlet to outlet
distance is also a factor for varying the velocity of the fluid. In addition,
it is seen from the simulation that the velocity varies with the viscosity of
the fluids. Fig. 4 shows the velocity profile of different fluids with the
variation of inlet pressure. In this graph, two y-axis plots are used to
represent very high and low velocities based fluids in one graph. The
primary y-axis is for the velocities of water, glucose, and ethanol;
whereas the secondary y-axis is for the velocities of lidocaine and
ibuprofen. Fig. 4 represents that the velocity increases with increase of
inlet pressure. It is also cleared from the graph that the velocity of
ethanol is highest among the selected fluids because of its properties of
viscosity and density. Conversely, the velocity of ibuprofen is very low
because of its value of viscosity and density. Overall, it is stated that high
viscosity based fluid provides a lower velocity profile and vice versa.
To observe the velocity distributions of a lowest and highest viscosity
based fluids, another simulation has been conducted. In Fig. 5(a), the
velocity distribution of a lowest viscous fluid such as water with the

Table 1
Properties of different fluids for fluidic analysis.
Different types of Dynamic viscosity Temperature Density (kg/
fluids (Pa.s) (K) m3)

Water 0.00089 278.15 K 997

Lidocaine [23] 5.60 278.15 K 1021.46
Ibuprofen [24] 9.48 278.15 K 998.8
Ethanol [27] 0.00108 278.15 K 785
Glucose [25] 0.00209 278.15 K 1088
Fig. 4. The velocities of different fluids with respect to the inlet pressures.

4
M.A. Sawon and M.F. Samad
Fig. 5. (a) Velocity distribution of water in different lumens and (b) Velocity distribution of ibuprofen in different lumens.
streamline velocity profile is shown. The simulation gives a specific
indication that the velocity of water is very low at the initial stage and it
mainly uses the first lumen/outlet to pass. It starts to pass through the
third outlet with a higher velocity after a while (time = 1 s). On the other
hand, a highest viscosity based fluid such as ibuprofen passes through
the first outlet from very beginning of the fluid flow. The velocity dis­
tributions of ibuprofen at the initial stage and after 1 s are presented in
Fig. 5(b). It is also seen that there is a small amount of flow in the third
outlet and the velocity in the third outlet is very low in respect to the first
outlet. This happens due to its highest viscosity and the absorption of the
ibuprofen through the microneedle wall. Therefore, it can be concluded
that the selection of outlets for a reliable rate of drug delivery into the
skin is dependent on the viscosity of the fluid. The flow rate of the drug
might also be high for a lower viscous fluid and low for a higher viscous
fluid.
Moreover, the performances of flow rates of water and ibuprofen
have been studied. Fig. 6 represent the theoretical and the simulation
results of the fluid flow rate for water and ibuprofen with varying inlet
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Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology 63 (2021) 102477
pressure. The maximum simulated flow rates of water at third outlet are
about 45.24 μL/min and 433.49 μL/min for the inlet pressure of 10 kPa
and 100 kPa respectively. Similarly, the maximum achieved flow rates
for ibuprofen are 0.01 μL/min and 0.09 μL/min at the inlet pressure of
10 kPa and 100 kPa respectively. Both graphs (Fig. 6(a) and b) also
confirm that the simulated flow rate of the fluid is less than the theo­
retical flow rate. This happens because of the absorption loss of fluid
through the microneedle wall and the differences of pressure drop inside
the lumens of the microneedle.
3.3. Analysis of microneedle interaction with hyperelastic skin model
The main purpose of designing a microneedle is the safely insertion
into the human skin without any pain. Thus, the skin insertion process is
an important analysis. To perform an analysis of microneedle interaction
with human skin, a skin model is developed as hyperelastic model. The
mechanical specifications of hyperelastic skin model are given in Table 2
[15]. The mechanical properties of hyperelastic model is quite similar as
M.A. Sawon and M.F. Samad Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology 63 (2021) 102477

Fig. 6. (a) Flow rate of water with variation of inlet pressure and (b) Flow rate
of ibuprofen with variation of inlet pressure.

Table 2
Specifications of the hyperelastic skin model.
Fig. 7. Skin insertion analysis: (a) Initial position of microneedle, (b) Micro­
Name of Thickness Elastic Density Material model needle on the surface of skin model during insertion, and (c) Microneedle is
the layer modulus (kg/m3) (Hyperelastic Ogden inserting into the stratum corneum.
(MPa) model)

15 10 μm 0.752 1.3 α = 8.68
15 80 μm 0.489 1.2 α = 20.68
15 1 mm 7.33 1.2 α = 57.89
the human skin [15,16]. Basically, human skin consist of three layers:
stratum corneum, epidermis, and dermis. The thicknesses of stratum
corneum, epidermis, and dermis are 10 μm, 80 μm, and 1 mm respec­
tively. The topmost layer is stratum corneum which creates main barrier
of microneedle penetration as stratum corneum has a Young’s modulus
over 100 times higher than the dermis layer. Thus, the insertion failure
and the deformation of the microneedle is depended on the stratum
corneum [16]. Hence, in the skin analysis, it is important to focus on the
penetration of stratum corenum and epidermis for understanding the
microneedle characteristic. The microneedle is regarded as a rigid body
[15] and it is kept in a distance from the skin model surface at the initial
position of the simulation. During simulation, this microneedle goes
down with a constant velocity of 1.1 mm/s [16] and pierce the skin
model surface. Fig. 7(a–c) represents the whole insertion process. In
Fig. 7(a), the microneedle is placed in a distance from the skin model
surface at time = 0 s. After a while (time = 3 s), this microneedle comes
just on the skin model surface and there is no deformation of the skin
model which is displayed in Fig. 7 (b). Finally the microneedle pierce the
stratum corneum for generating stress and this von-mises stress exceeds
the elastic modulus of the skin properties. As a result, skin failure occurs
[28] and the microneedle penetrate the model of the skin layer easily.
Also, there is a deformation in the epidermis layer for the microneedle
insertion into the stratum corneum. Fig. 7(c) shows that the micorneedle
pierce the skin model with a skin piercing force which deforms the layer
of stratum corneum as well as epidermis.
More analyses have been carried out with this skin model. The force
displacement behavior during the skin insertion is investigated as pre­
sented in Fig. 8(a). This graph shows that the resistive force gradually
increases with increasing the displacement of microneedle. After a
while, the force moderately increases when the effective stress of skin
reaches the failure criterion. In this situation, the miconeedle pierces the
total layer of the stratum corneum. After that, the force again continues
to increase rapidly. Additionally, the effects of the insertion force for
different layers of the skin model are determined. The insertion force
varies with different thickness of the skin layer. Generally, the thickness
of human skin layer varies with age and sex [16]. Fig. 8(b) and (c) show
the effect of the insertion force on the thicknesses of stratum corneum
and epidermis respectively. Both graphs explain that the insertion force
increase with increasing the thickness of the layer. It can be stated for
epidermis that the insertion force is increased by 16% from about 0.37
mN to 0.53 mN when the thickness is raised from 80 μm to 100 μm.

6
M.A. Sawon and M.F. Samad
Fig. 8. (a) Force displacement characteristics during skin insertion, (b) Effect of insertion force on thickness of stratum corneum and (b) Effect of insertion force on
thickness of epidermis.
4. Discussions
In literature, different types of analysis had been performed to find
the best pathway for transdermal drug delivery with microneedle [10,
11,13,14]. Researchers showed performance of their microneedle with
the structural analysis, fluidic analysis, skin insertion analysis and so on.
For instance, Mishra et al. [11] used SU-8 as a structural material for a
cylindrical hollow shaped microneedle that showed the von-mises stress
of 4.97 MPa after applying the axial pressure on the microneedle tip. The
length of the microneedle was about 500 μm with the outer diameter of
100 μm. The author had also performed the fluidic analysis with water
and found the fluid flow rate of 2.6 μL/s at 10 kPa of the inlet pressure.
In another study, García et al. [13] investigated the structural and fluidic
analysis of SiC and Nickel based microneedles. Both microneedles were
made of the length of 450 μm and the outer diameter of 70 μm. For
applying the axial load on the microneedle tip, the generated stresses
were 1349 MPa and 1324.1 MPa for SiC and Nickel respectively. They
showed that for the inlet pressure of 1670 Pa, the fluid flow rate and
velocity were 2.92 × 10− 5 cm3/s and 0.23 ms− 1 respectively. Another
SiC based microneedle with the length of 750 μm, the base diameter of
200 μm, and the tip diameter of 10 μm was examined by Kanakaraj et al.
[14]. This microneedle exhibited the stress of 2.87 MPa after applying
the axial load on the microneedle tip. Furthermore, Bodhale et al. [10]
presented a polymeric microneedle with the length of 200 μm and the
outer diameter of 150 μm. After applying the axial load, the achieved
stress at the microneedle tip was 2.3 MPa. Their microneedle provided
the flow rate of 270 μL/min and 32 μL/min at the inlet pressure of 100
kPa and 10 kPa respectively when water was used as a fluid.
In compare to the above mentioned microneedles, our proposed
microneedle shows an improved stability with a better rate of flow of
fluids. Although the proposed microneedle uses the similar material as
used in Refs. [13,14], it has obtained a better stability than their needle
by generating a lower value of von-mises stress of about 2.71 MPa. The
proposed microneedle has a flow rates of water of about 45.24 μL/min
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Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology 63 (2021) 102477
and 433.49 μL/min at the inlet pressure of 10 kPa and 100 kPa
respectively. These flow rates are higher than the flow rates of the
microneedle presented by Bodhale et al. [10], even though the gener­
ated stress of the proposed microneedle is slightly higher. Furthermore,
the outer diameter of the proposed model is less in compare to Bodhale’s
microneedle which might cause less pain during the skin insertion. The
length and the outer diameter of the presented model is also smaller to
the microneedle demonstrated by Mishra et al. [11]. Hence, the offered
miniaturized microneedle will reduce tissue damage and pain.
5. Conclusions
In this work, an advanced SiC based microneedle for transdermal
drug delivery system was presented. The generated stress of 2.71 MPa
ratified that this microneedle will remain unbroken for applying the skin
insertion pressure of 3.16 MPa on the microneedle. As reducing pain was
the main factor of using microneedle, the tip of the microneedle was
optimized. It was found that 50.26 μm2 tip surface of the microneedle
generated less stress with less pain. Moreover, the fluidic analysis was
presented to show the performance of various fluids where high vis­
cosity based fluid provided a lower velocity profile and vice versa. The
maximum achieved flow rates of ibuprofen were found as 0.01 μL/min
and 0.09 μL/min at the inlet pressure of 10 kPa and 100 kPa respec­
tively. Similarly, the flow rates for water were 45.24 μL/min and 433.49
μL/min at the same inlet pressure that can be very effective for trans­
dermal delivery. To observe the force displacement characteristics of the
microneedle, the required insertion force for piercing the hyperelastic
skin model was described. Also, it was confirmed from various simula­
tion based analyses that the offered microneedle was good enough to
pierce the hyperelastic skin model without damage. To conclude, this
SiC microneedle is a prominent device for controlled transdermal drug
delivery applications because of its better stability with less stress or
pain.
M.A. Sawon and M.F. Samad
Declaration of competing interest
None.
Acknowledgements
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding
agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
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