Microchannels made of fluoropolymers show potential merits due to their excellent solvent resistance, but such channels have not been widely used because of the complexity to fabricate them. This communication describes a method to prototype microfluidic devices using fluoropolymer films. The fabrication requires only two steps; cutting fluoropolymer films with a desktop cutting plotter and applying heat and pressure to laminate them. The method is rapid, simple, and low-cost. The conditions for heat press were identified for two common fluoropolymers: polytetrafluoroethylene and fluorinated ethylene propylene. The laminated films were confirmed to remain sealed with an internal pressure of at least 300 kPa. The fabricated devices were tested for the resistance to a set of organic solvents that would not be compatible with typical devices fabricated in polydimethylsiloxane. To highlight the potential of the fluoropolymer devices fabricated in this method, generation of droplets in a continuous stream of organic solvent using a T-junction channel was demonstrated. Our method offers a simple avenue to prototype microfluidic devices to conduct experiments involving organic solvents such as organic chemistry and in-channel synthesis of microparticles.

1.
Y.
Xia
and
G. M.
Whitesides
,
Annu. Rev. Mater. Sci.
28
,
153
184
(
1998
).
2.
D. C.
Duffy
,
J. C.
McDonald
,
O. J.
Schueller
, and
G. M.
Whitesides
,
Anal. Chem.
70
,
4974
4984
(
1998
).
3.
L.
Téllez
,
J. Mater. Sci.
38
,
1773
1780
(
2003
).
4.
Q.
Xu
,
M.
Hashimoto
,
T. T.
Dang
,
T.
Hoare
,
D. S.
Kohane
,
G. M.
Whitesides
,
R.
Langer
, and
D. G.
Anderson
,
Small
5
,
1575
1581
(
2009
).
5.
D.
Huh
,
Y. S.
Torisawa
,
G. A.
Hamilton
,
H. J.
Kim
, and
D. E.
Ingber
,
Lab Chip
12
,
2156
2164
(
2012
).
6.
L.
Mazutis
,
J.
Gilbert
,
W. L.
Ung
,
D. A.
Weitz
,
A. D.
Griffiths
, and
J. A.
Heyman
,
Nat. Protoc.
8
,
870
891
(
2013
).
7.
P. M.
Valencia
,
E. M.
Pridgen
,
M.
Rhee
,
R.
Langer
,
O. C.
Farokhzad
, and
R.
Karnik
,
ACS Nano
7
,
10671
10680
(
2013
).
8.
J. J.
Lee
,
K. J.
Jeong
,
M.
Hashimoto
,
A. H.
Kwon
,
A.
Rwei
,
S. A.
Shankarappa
,
J. H.
Tsui
, and
D. S.
Kohane
,
Nano Lett.
14
,
1
5
(
2014
).
9.
C. W.
Shields
,
C. D.
Reyes
, and
G. P.
Lopez
,
Lab Chip
15
,
1230
1249
(
2015
).
10.
R.
Mukhopadhyay
,
Anal. Chem.
79
,
3248
3253
(
2007
).
11.
R. J.
Jackman
,
T. M.
Floyd
,
R.
Ghodssi
,
M. A.
Schmidt
, and
K. F.
Jensen
,
J. Micromech. Microeng.
11
,
263
269
(
2001
).
12.
E.
Piccin
,
W. K.
Coltro
,
J. A.
Fracassi da Silva
,
S. C.
Neto
,
L. H.
Mazo
, and
E.
Carrilho
,
J. Chromatogr. A
1173
,
151
158
(
2007
).
13.
D.
Bartolo
,
G.
Degre
,
P.
Nghe
, and
V.
Studer
,
Lab Chip
8
,
274
279
(
2008
).
14.
C. F.
Carlborg
,
T.
Haraldsson
,
K.
Oberg
,
M.
Malkoch
, and
W.
van der Wijngaart
,
Lab Chip
11
,
3136
3147
(
2011
).
15.
M.
Hashimoto
,
R.
Langer
, and
D. S.
Kohane
,
Lab Chip
13
,
252
259
(
2013
).
16.
V.
Arcella
,
A.
Ghielmi
, and
G.
Tommasi
,
Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci.
984
,
226
244
(
2003
).
17.
W. R.
Dolbier
,
J. Fluor. Chem.
126
,
157
163
(
2005
).
18.
C. T.
Riche
,
C.
Zhang
,
M.
Gupta
, and
N.
Malmstadt
,
Lab Chip
14
,
1834
1841
(
2014
).
19.
K.
Ren
,
W.
Dai
,
J.
Zhou
,
J.
Su
, and
H.
Wu
,
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
108
,
8162
8166
(
2011
).
20.
J. P.
Rolland
,
R. M.
Van Dam
,
D. A.
Schorzman
,
S. R.
Quake
, and
J. M.
DeSimone
,
J. Am. Chem. Soc.
126
,
2322
2323
(
2004
).
21.
O.
Cybulski
,
S.
Jakiela
, and
P.
Garstecki
,
Lab Chip
16
,
2198
2210
(
2016
).
22.
D. A.
Bartholomeusz
,
R. W.
Boutte
, and
J. D.
Andrade
,
J. Microelectromech. Syst.
14
,
1364
1374
(
2005
).
23.
L.
Renaud
,
D.
Selloum
, and
S.
Tingry
,
Microfluid. Nanofluid.
18
,
1407
1416
(
2015
).
24.
A.
Neuville
,
L.
Renaud
,
T. T.
Luu
,
M. W.
Minde
,
E.
Jettestuen
,
J. L.
Vinningland
,
A.
Hiorth
, and
D. K.
Dysthe
,
Lab Chip
17
,
293
303
(
2017
).
25.
A.
Taberham
,
M.
Kraft
,
M.
Mowlem
, and
H.
Morgan
,
J. Micromech. Microeng.
18
,
064011
(
2008
).
26.
P. D. I.
Fletcher
,
S. J.
Haswell
,
E.
Pombo-Villar
,
B. H.
Warrington
,
P.
Watts
,
S. Y. F.
Wong
, and
X.
Zhang
,
Tetrahedron
58
,
4735
4757
(
2002
).
27.
P.
Watts
and
S. J.
Haswell
,
Chem. Soc. Rev.
34
,
235
246
(
2005
).
28.
H.
Lu
,
L. Y.
Koo
,
W. M.
Wang
,
D. A.
Lauffenburger
,
L. G.
Griffith
, and
K. F.
Jensen
,
Anal. Chem.
76
,
5257
5264
(
2004
).
29.
E. W.
Young
,
A. R.
Wheeler
, and
C. A.
Simmons
,
Lab Chip
7
,
1759
1766
(
2007
).

Supplementary Material

You do not currently have access to this content.