Issue 1, 2021

All-graphene-based open fluidics for pumpless, small-scale fluid transport via laser-controlled wettability patterning

Abstract

Open microfluidics have emerged as a low-cost, pumpless alternative strategy to conventional microfluidics for delivery of fluid for a wide variety of applications including rapid biochemical analysis and medical diagnosis. However, creating open microfluidics by tuning the wettability of surfaces typically requires sophisticated cleanroom processes that are unamenable to scalable manufacturing. Herein, we present a simple approach to develop open microfluidic platforms by manipulating the surface wettability of spin-coated graphene ink films on flexible polyethylene terephthalate via laser-controlled patterning. Wedge-shaped hydrophilic tracks surrounded by superhydrophobic walls are created within the graphene films by scribing micron-sized grooves into the graphene with a CO2 laser. This scribing process is used to make superhydrophobic walls (water contact angle ∼160°) that delineate hydrophilic tracks (created through an oxygen plasma pretreatment) on the graphene for fluid transport. These all-graphene open microfluidic tracks are capable of transporting liquid droplets with a velocity of 20 mm s−1 on a level surface and uphill at elevation angles of 7° as well as transporting fluid in bifurcating cross and tree branches. The all-graphene open microfluidic manufacturing technique is rapid and amenable to scalable manufacturing, and consequently offers an alternative pumpless strategy to conventional microfluidics and creates possibilities for diverse applications in fluid transport.

Graphical abstract: All-graphene-based open fluidics for pumpless, small-scale fluid transport via laser-controlled wettability patterning

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
23 iyn 2020
Accepted
15 okt 2020
First published
16 okt 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale Horiz., 2021,6, 24-32

All-graphene-based open fluidics for pumpless, small-scale fluid transport via laser-controlled wettability patterning

L. S. Hall, D. Hwang, B. Chen, B. Van Belle, Z. T. Johnson, J. A. Hondred, C. L. Gomes, M. D. Bartlett and J. C. Claussen, Nanoscale Horiz., 2021, 6, 24 DOI: 10.1039/D0NH00376J

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements