title: Wetting micro- and nanofluidic devices using supercritical water.
abstract: We describe a method for wetting micro- and nanofluidic devices with water or any other pure liquid. The process is performed by enclosing the fluidic device in a liquid-filled cell, heating the cell to a temperature above the critical point of the liquid, and subsequent cooling of the cell to room temperature. Because the process liquid is essentially a gas during wetting, arbitrary shapes can be wetted. We demonstrate wetting of micro- and nanostructures in a fused-silica device with only a single inlet. The process is low-cost, fast, safe, and very reliable.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA. rriehn@princeton.edu
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Riehn
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Austin
mesh_terms: D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques; D036103:Nanotechnology; D013696:Temperature; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D014867:Water