Issue 22, 2011

Facile creation of hierarchical PDMS microstructures with extreme underwater superoleophobicity for anti-oil application in microfluidic channels

Abstract

Composition modification and surface microstructures have been widely utilized in interface science to improve the surface performance. In this paper, we observed a significant improvement of oil contact angle (CA) from 66 ± 2° to 120 ± 4° by introducing a radical silanol group on a flat PDMS surface through oxygen plasma pretreatment. By combining surface microstructures and plasma modification, we produced three kinds of superoleophobic surfaces: 20 μm pitch micropillar arrays, 2.5 μm pitch micropillar arrays and gecko foot-like hierarchical microstructures. Among them, the hierarchical surface with high surface roughness showed extreme underwater superoleophobicity, which featured ultrahigh CA (175 ± 3°) and ultrasmall sliding angle (<1°). Quantitative measurements demonstrated that these superoleophobic surfaces exhibited distinct adhesive behaviors, by which they were interpreted as Wenzel's, Cassie's and the Lotus state, respectively. A microfluidic channel with superoleophobic microstructures was further created by novel curve-assisted imprint lithography, and the characterization based on anti-oil contamination applications was carried out and discussed. We believe that the superoleophobic surfaces will power broad applications in oil microdroplet transportation, anti-oil channels and droplet microfluidic systems.

Graphical abstract: Facile creation of hierarchical PDMS microstructures with extreme underwater superoleophobicity for anti-oil application in microfluidic channels

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 Mar 2011
Accepted
23 Aug 2011
First published
27 Sep 2011

Lab Chip, 2011,11, 3873-3879

Facile creation of hierarchical PDMS microstructures with extreme underwater superoleophobicity for anti-oil application in microfluidic channels

D. Wu, S. Wu, Q. Chen, S. Zhao, H. Zhang, J. Jiao, J. A. Piersol, J. Wang, H. Sun and L. Jiang, Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 3873 DOI: 10.1039/C1LC20226J

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