Issue 26, 2017, Issue in Progress

A 2D approach to surface-tension-confined fluidics on parylene C

Abstract

In the present study a new, facile and cheap method to obtain a 2D surface-tension-confined fluidic system on substrates conformally coated by parylene C is presented. It is based on the use of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)-based soft masks obtained by molds produced by a 3D-printer. These masks, applied alternatively onto a parylene C-coated silicon substrate together with appropriate plasma treatments permit to obtain a superhydrophilic pattern on a superhydrophobic background, in which pure water, water-based solutions and polar solvents can flow. The flow of these liquids is strictly confined and is driven into the superhydrophilic pattern only by the differences in surface energy between it and the background, without any confinement effect provided by walls or capillary-driven channel, that are completely missing. According to the proposed fabrication method, all the desired fluidic systems can be fabricated in an easy and cheap way. The developed method for 2D surface-tension-confined fluidics on parylene C permits to obtain a highly versatile platform which can be applied on all desired substrates, without the need to etch the polymer surface in order to obtain channel walls, paving the way to employ green, easily available and cheaper substrates, such as cellulose for paper-based fluidics applications, improving, at the same time, the biopolymer surface properties.

Graphical abstract: A 2D approach to surface-tension-confined fluidics on parylene C

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 Feb 2017
Accepted
07 Mar 2017
First published
13 Mar 2017
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2017,7, 15964-15970

A 2D approach to surface-tension-confined fluidics on parylene C

P. Calcagnile, T. Dattoma, E. Scarpa, A. Qualtieri, L. Blasi, M. De Vittorio and F. Rizzi, RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 15964 DOI: 10.1039/C7RA01604B

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