A Method for Simultaneous Polishing and Hydrophobization of Polycarbonate for Microfluidic Applications

Here we present a new methodology for chemical polishing of microchannels in polycarbonate (PC). Tuning the time of exposition and the concentration of ammonia, the roughness arising from the micromachining process can be significantly reduced or completely removed while preserving the structure of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPolymers Vol. 12; no. 11; p. 2490
Main Authors Ogończyk, Dominika, Jankowski, Paweł, Garstecki, Piotr
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published MDPI 27.10.2020
MDPI AG
Subjects
hydrophobization
microfluidics
polishing
polycarbonate
surface modification
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Summary:Here we present a new methodology for chemical polishing of microchannels in polycarbonate (PC). Tuning the time of exposition and the concentration of ammonia, the roughness arising from the micromachining process can be significantly reduced or completely removed while preserving the structure of microchannels. Besides smoothing out the surface, our method modifies the wettability of the surface, rendering it hydrophobic. The method increases the optical transparency of microchannels and eliminates undesired effects in two-phase microfluidic systems, including wetting by aqueous solutions and cross-contamination between aqueous droplets that could otherwise shed satellites via pinning.
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These authors contributed equally to this work.
ISSN:2073-4360
2073-4360
DOI:10.3390/polym12112490