On‐Demand Inkjet Printed Hydrophilic Coatings for Flow Control in 3D‐Printed Microfluidic Devices Embedded with Organic Electrochemical Transistors

Abstract

AbstractMicrofluidic surface chemistry can enable control of capillary‐driven flow without the need for bulky external instrumentation. A novel pondered nonhomogeneous coating defines regions with different wetting properties on the microchannel walls. It changes the curvature of the liquid–air meniscus at various channel cross‐sections and consequently leads to different capillary pressures, which is favorable in the strive toward automatic flow control. This is accomplished by the deposition of hydrophilic coatings on the surface of multilevel 3D‐printed (3DP) microfluidic devices via inkjet printing, thereby retaining the surface hydrophilicity for at least 6 months of storage. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of capillary flow control in 3DP microfluidics enabled by inkjet printing. The method is used to create “stop” and “delay” valves to enable preprogrammed capillary flow for sequential release of fluids. To demonstrate further utilization in point‐of‐care sensing applications, screen printed organic electrochemical transistors are integrated within the microfluidic chips to sense, sequentially and independently from external actions, chloride anions in the (1–100) × 10−3 m range. The results present a cost‐effective fabrication method of compact, yet comprehensive, all‐printed sensing platforms that allow fast ion detection (<60 s), including the capability of automatic delivery of multiple test solutions.