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Surface Modification of 3D Printed Microfluidic Devices for Controlled Wetting in Two-Phase Flow

Microfluidic devices (MFDs) printed in 3-D geometry using digital light projection to polymerize monomers often have surfaces that are not as hydrophobic as MFDs made from polydimethylsiloxane. Droplet microfluidics in these types of devices are subject to droplet adhesion and aqueous spreading on l...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Warr, Chandler A., Crawford, Nicole G., Nordin, Gregory P., Pitt, William G.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9866927/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36677067
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi14010006
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author Warr, Chandler A.
Crawford, Nicole G.
Nordin, Gregory P.
Pitt, William G.
author_facet Warr, Chandler A.
Crawford, Nicole G.
Nordin, Gregory P.
Pitt, William G.
author_sort Warr, Chandler A.
collection PubMed
description Microfluidic devices (MFDs) printed in 3-D geometry using digital light projection to polymerize monomers often have surfaces that are not as hydrophobic as MFDs made from polydimethylsiloxane. Droplet microfluidics in these types of devices are subject to droplet adhesion and aqueous spreading on less hydrophobic MFD surfaces. We have developed a post-processing technique using hydrophobic monomers that renders the surfaces of these devices much more hydrophobic. The technique is fast and easy, and involves flowing monomer without initiator into the channels and then exposing the entire device to UV light that generates radicals from the initiator molecules remaining in the original 3-D polymerization. After treatment the channels can be cleared and the surface is more hydrophobic, as evidenced by higher contact angles with aqueous droplets. We hypothesize that radicals generated near the previously printed surfaces initiate polymerization of the hydrophobic monomers on the surfaces without bulk polymerization extending into the channels. The most hydrophobic surfaces were produced by treatment with an alkyl acrylate and a fluorinated acrylate. This technique could be used for surface treatment with other types of monomers to impart unique characteristics to channels in MFDs.
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spelling pubmed-98669272023-01-22 Surface Modification of 3D Printed Microfluidic Devices for Controlled Wetting in Two-Phase Flow Warr, Chandler A. Crawford, Nicole G. Nordin, Gregory P. Pitt, William G. Micromachines (Basel) Article Microfluidic devices (MFDs) printed in 3-D geometry using digital light projection to polymerize monomers often have surfaces that are not as hydrophobic as MFDs made from polydimethylsiloxane. Droplet microfluidics in these types of devices are subject to droplet adhesion and aqueous spreading on less hydrophobic MFD surfaces. We have developed a post-processing technique using hydrophobic monomers that renders the surfaces of these devices much more hydrophobic. The technique is fast and easy, and involves flowing monomer without initiator into the channels and then exposing the entire device to UV light that generates radicals from the initiator molecules remaining in the original 3-D polymerization. After treatment the channels can be cleared and the surface is more hydrophobic, as evidenced by higher contact angles with aqueous droplets. We hypothesize that radicals generated near the previously printed surfaces initiate polymerization of the hydrophobic monomers on the surfaces without bulk polymerization extending into the channels. The most hydrophobic surfaces were produced by treatment with an alkyl acrylate and a fluorinated acrylate. This technique could be used for surface treatment with other types of monomers to impart unique characteristics to channels in MFDs. MDPI 2022-12-20 /pmc/articles/PMC9866927/ /pubmed/36677067 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi14010006 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Warr, Chandler A.
Crawford, Nicole G.
Nordin, Gregory P.
Pitt, William G.
Surface Modification of 3D Printed Microfluidic Devices for Controlled Wetting in Two-Phase Flow
title Surface Modification of 3D Printed Microfluidic Devices for Controlled Wetting in Two-Phase Flow
title_full Surface Modification of 3D Printed Microfluidic Devices for Controlled Wetting in Two-Phase Flow
title_fullStr Surface Modification of 3D Printed Microfluidic Devices for Controlled Wetting in Two-Phase Flow
title_full_unstemmed Surface Modification of 3D Printed Microfluidic Devices for Controlled Wetting in Two-Phase Flow
title_short Surface Modification of 3D Printed Microfluidic Devices for Controlled Wetting in Two-Phase Flow
title_sort surface modification of 3d printed microfluidic devices for controlled wetting in two-phase flow
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9866927/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36677067
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi14010006
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