Multistep liquid-phase lithography for fast prototyping of microfluidic free-flow-electrophoresis chips

• Published in: Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry Vol. 401; no. 8; pp. 2651 - 2656
• Main Authors: Jezierski, Stefan, Gitlin, Leonid, Nagl, Stefan, Belder, Detlev
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.11.2011; Springer
• Subjects: Amino acids; Analytical Chemistry; Biochemistry; Channels; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chips; Chromatographic methods and physical methods associated with chromatography; Electrodes; Electrophoresis; Exact sciences and technology; Fluorescence; Food Science; Integrated circuit fabrication; Laboratory Medicine; Lithography; Microfluidics; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Other chromatographic methods; Polymers; Separation; Technical Note; Walls; Capillary electrophoresis/electrophoresis; Lab-on-a-chip; Microfabrication; Microfluidics; Free-flow electrophoresis; Performance evaluation; Fluid mechanics; Segregation; Device; Glass; Polymer; Method; Liquid phase; Ethylene oxide polymer; Slide; Aminoacid; Electrophoresis; Height; Xanthene dye
• ISSN: 1618-2642; 1618-2650
• DOI: 10.1007/s00216-011-5351-2

We present a fast and versatile method to produce functional micro free-flow electrophoresis chips. Microfluidic structures were generated between two glass slides applying multistep liquid-phase lithography, omitting troublesome bonding steps or cost-intensive master structures. Utilizing a novel spacer-less approach with the photodefinable polymer polyethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (PEG-DA), microfluidic devices with hydrophilic channels of only 25 μm in height were generated. The microfluidic chips feature ion-permeable segregation walls between the electrode channels and the separation bed and hydrophilic surfaces. The performance of the chip is demonstrated by free-flow electrophoretic separation of fluorescent xanthene dyes and fluorescently labeled amino acids.