Abstract
We provide a new method for the selective surface
patterning of microfluidic chips with hydrophobic
fluoropolymers which is demonstrated by the fabrication
of hydrophobic valves. It enables efficient optical quality
control for the surface patterning thus permitting the lowcost
production of highly reproducible hydrophobic
valves. Specifically, a fluoropolymer-solvent-dye solution
based on carbon black (CB) is presented which creates
superhydrophobic surfaces (contact angle = 157.9°) on
chips made from cyclic olefin copolymer (COC). It further
provides good visibility for the quality control (QC) in
polymer labs-on-a-chip and increases the burst pressure of
hydrophobic valves. Finally, an application which aims for
the amplification of mRNA on-chip and relies on the
defined flow control by hydrophobic valves is presented.
Here, the QC in combination with the Teflon-CB coating
improves the average standard deviation of the burst
pressures from 14.5% down to 6.1 % compared to solely
Teflon-coated valves.
patterning of microfluidic chips with hydrophobic
fluoropolymers which is demonstrated by the fabrication
of hydrophobic valves. It enables efficient optical quality
control for the surface patterning thus permitting the lowcost
production of highly reproducible hydrophobic
valves. Specifically, a fluoropolymer-solvent-dye solution
based on carbon black (CB) is presented which creates
superhydrophobic surfaces (contact angle = 157.9°) on
chips made from cyclic olefin copolymer (COC). It further
provides good visibility for the quality control (QC) in
polymer labs-on-a-chip and increases the burst pressure of
hydrophobic valves. Finally, an application which aims for
the amplification of mRNA on-chip and relies on the
defined flow control by hydrophobic valves is presented.
Here, the QC in combination with the Teflon-CB coating
improves the average standard deviation of the burst
pressures from 14.5% down to 6.1 % compared to solely
Teflon-coated valves.