Abstract
Modification of the surfaces of polycarbonate (PC) with the use of a solution of tin (II) chloride renders them hydrophilic. The surface draping is stable against exposure to water and to alcohols. Exposure to alkanes reduces but does not diminish the effect. The method is compatible—in using the same solvent and temperature—with the hydrophobic modification of PC Jankowski et al. ( Lab Chip 11:748–752, 2011). The combination of these methods makes it possible to generate single and multiple monodisperse emulsions with the use of flow-focusing junctions in systems made in PC—material that is suitable for fabrication of multilayer, high throughput microfluidic devices.
Highlights
We report a new technique for modification of surfaces of polycarbonate that yields these surfaces hydrophilic
The method is compatible—in using the same solvent and temperature—with the hydrophobic modification of PC Jankowski et al ( Lab Chip 11:748–752, 2011). The combination of these methods makes it possible to generate single and multiple monodisperse emulsions with the use of flow-focusing junctions in systems made in PC— material that is suitable for fabrication of multilayer, high throughput microfluidic devices
We found that there is a close correlation between the contact angles of water on the plate in air and the content of tin in the surface layer of modified PC (Fig. 1)
Summary
We report a new technique for modification of surfaces of polycarbonate that yields these surfaces hydrophilic. Conventional (bulk) schemes of generation of double emulsions present numerous challenges, making it difficult or impossible to control the number of Microfluid Nanofluid (2013) 14:767–774 embedded droplets and the distribution of volumes of the cores and shells (Muschiolik 2007; Nakashima et al 2000; Van der Graaf et al 2005; Vasiljevic et al 2006). We have recently developed two methods to modify polycarbonate: one that coats the polymer with dodecylamine (DDA) to render a hydrophobic and lipophylic surface (Jankowski et al 2011) and another for sequential deposition of electrolytes to render PC hydrophilic (lipophobic) (Derzsi et al 2011) These two methods, suitable for production of single emulsions are not fully compatible with protocols for heterogeneous modifications. We first detail the procedure of the new modification with tin (II) chloride and demonstrate a microfluidic system suitable for production of (O/W) and (W/O/W) emulsions
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