Nonfouling hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) engraftment strategy for PDMS/SU-8 heterogeneous microfluidic devices

Langmuir. 2012 Nov 20;28(46):16227-36. doi: 10.1021/la303196m. Epub 2012 Nov 6.

Abstract

We report a novel nonfouling passivation method using poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) engraftment on the surfaces of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microfluidic devices sealed with SU-8. To achieve bonding between the PDMS and SU-8 surfaces, the PDMS surface was first functionalized with amines by treatment with 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (APTMS) for subsequent reaction with epoxide functional groups on SU-8 surfaces. To modify the heterogeneous surfaces of the resulting PDMS/SU-8 microfluidic device further, the remaining SU-8 surfaces were amino functionalized using ethylene diamine (EDA), followed by treating both amino-functionalized PDMS and SU-8 surfaces with mPEG-NHS (N-hydroxysuccinimide) through an amine-NHS reaction for facile PEG immobilizations, thus simultaneously modifying both PDMS and SU-8 surfaces in one reaction. Detailed surface analyses such as the water contact angle, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were conducted to confirm the chemical reactions and characterize the resulting surface properties. To test the efficacy of this surface-modification strategy, we conducted nonspecific protein and particle binding tests using microfluidic devices with and without modifications. The PEG-modified PDMS/SU-8 device surfaces showed a 64.5% reduction in nonspecific bovine serum albumin (BSA) adsorption in comparison to that of the unmodified surfaces and 92.0 and 95.8% reductions in microbead adhesion under both stagnant and flowing conditions, respectively.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adsorption
  • Dimethylpolysiloxanes / chemistry
  • Ethylenediamines / chemistry
  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / instrumentation*
  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / methods
  • Microscopy, Atomic Force
  • Photoelectron Spectroscopy
  • Polyethylene Glycols / chemistry*
  • Serum Albumin, Bovine / chemistry
  • Surface Properties

Substances

  • Dimethylpolysiloxanes
  • Ethylenediamines
  • Serum Albumin, Bovine
  • Polyethylene Glycols
  • ethylenediamine
  • baysilon