Dissolution-guided wetting for microarray and microfluidic devices.
The trapping of air bubbles presents a substantial impediment for the user in the increasingly widespread use of lab-on-a-chip products having microcavities in the forms of microwells, traps, dead ends and corners. Here we demonstrate a simple, effective, and passive method to eliminate air bubbles by coating hydrophilized microarray and microfluidic devices with a monosaccharide such as D-glucose or D-sorbitol, where the microcavities are filled with a conformal, elliptical, cone-shaped monosaccharide solid. These devices were stored in air for up to 6 months with a complete rewetting of the microcavities by dissolution of the monosaccharide with an aqueous solution.
Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
Yuli
Y
Wang
Christopher E
CE
Sims
Nancy L
NL
Allbritton
D004129:Dimethylpolysiloxanes / Q000737:chemistry; D005947:Glucose / Q000737:chemistry; D046228:Microarray Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation*; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013012:Sorbitol / Q000737:chemistry; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry; D017155:Wettability
D004129:Dimethylpolysiloxanes; D014867:Water; D013012:Sorbitol; C013830:baysilon; D005947:Glucose