Tunable superomniphobic surfaces for sorting droplets by surface tension

Author(s): S. Movafaghi ¹ ^, ² ^, ³ ^, ⁴ , W. Wang ¹ ^, ² ^, ³ ^, ⁴ , A. Metzger ¹ ^, ² ^, ³ ^, ⁴ , D. D. Williams ¹ ^, ² ^, ³ ^, ⁴ , J. D. Williams ¹ ^, ² ^, ³ ^, ⁴ , A. K. Kota ¹ ^, ² ^, ³ ^, ⁴ ^, ⁵

Publication date (Electronic): 2016

Journal: Lab on a Chip

Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)

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Abstract

Utilizing tunable superomniphobic surfaces with flower-like TiO ₂ nanostructures, we fabricated a simple device that can sort droplets by surface tension.

Abstract

We utilized tunable superomniphobic surfaces with flower-like TiO ₂ nanostructures to fabricate a simple device with precisely tailored surface energy domains that, for the first time, can sort droplets by surface tension. We envision that our methodology for droplet sorting will enable inexpensive and energy-efficient analytical devices for personalized point-of-care diagnostic platforms, lab-on-a-chip systems, biochemical assays and biosensors.

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Designing superoleophobic surfaces.

Anish Tuteja, Wonjae Choi, Minglin Ma … (2007)

Understanding the complementary roles of surface energy and roughness on natural nonwetting surfaces has led to the development of a number of biomimetic superhydrophobic surfaces, which exhibit apparent contact angles with water greater than 150 degrees and low contact angle hysteresis. However, superoleophobic surfaces-those that display contact angles greater than 150 degrees with organic liquids having appreciably lower surface tensions than that of water-are extremely rare. Calculations suggest that creating such a surface would require a surface energy lower than that of any known material. We show how a third factor, re-entrant surface curvature, in conjunction with chemical composition and roughened texture, can be used to design surfaces that display extreme resistance to wetting from a number of liquids with low surface tension, including alkanes such as decane and octane.

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Droplet microfluidics.

Shia-Yen Teh, Robert Lin, Lung-Hsin Hung … (2008)

Droplet-based microfluidic systems have been shown to be compatible with many chemical and biological reagents and capable of performing a variety of "digital fluidic" operations that can be rendered programmable and reconfigurable. This platform has dimensional scaling benefits that have enabled controlled and rapid mixing of fluids in the droplet reactors, resulting in decreased reaction times. This, coupled with the precise generation and repeatability of droplet operations, has made the droplet-based microfluidic system a potent high throughput platform for biomedical research and applications. In addition to being used as microreactors ranging from the nano- to femtoliter range; droplet-based systems have also been used to directly synthesize particles and encapsulate many biological entities for biomedicine and biotechnology applications. This review will focus on the various droplet operations, as well as the numerous applications of the system. Due to advantages unique to droplet-based systems, this technology has the potential to provide novel solutions to today's biomedical engineering challenges for advanced diagnostics and therapeutics.