Fabrication of monolithic polymer nanofluidic channels using nanowires as sacrificial templates.
We report a facile and reliable method to fabricate polymer-based monolithic nanofluidic channels. The nanochannels are obtained via three main steps: (1) fabrication of nanowire-transistor like structures, which are silver or zinc oxide nanowires horizontally bridging two electrodes made of zinc oxide on SiO(2)/Si substrates; (2) casting and curing polyimide solution on the nanowire structures; and (3) selective etching of the nanowire and electrode templates against the polyimide substrates. This process leads to the production of nanochannels with a diameter down to ∼ 50 nm. Our method is based on nanowires that are chemically synthesized whereas nanopattern fabrication conventionally relies on expensive equipment. Moreover, the polymer nanochannels are fabricated monolithically while a process of bonding two different materials is required in traditional methods where leakage problems are often identified at the interface. Construction of nanofluidic circuitry could be expected in the future based on the current work.
Chu
Kyo Seon
KS
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Kim
Seungwook
S
Chung
Haegeun
H
Oh
Joon-Ho
JH
Seong
Tae-Yeon
TY
An
Boo Hyun
BH
Kim
Young Keun
YK
Park
Jae Hyoung
JH
Do
Young Rag
YR
Kim
Woong
W