Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Oxygen inhibition induced hydrophilic-hydrophobic surface for self-assembled droplet microarrays

  • Published:
Applied Physics A Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Hydrophilic-hydrophobic surface is vital for the study of the wettability behavior of microdroplets. In this paper, a method for preparation of hydrophilic-hydrophobic patterned surface is proposed based on the oxygen inhibition effect. Oxygen inhibition is very common in photo-cured process, and usually should be avoided for its adverse effect on curing quality. However, it also results in numerous nanostructures naturally formed on the cured layer surface, and the density and sizes of the nanostructures can be modulated conveniently by adjusting the exposure time. Based on this phenomenon, the cured layer surface having hydrophobicity can be processed. The contact angle system is used to measure the contact angle of the cured layer surface, and the morphology of the cured layer surface is measured in detail by atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscope.The hydrophobic layer is only 1.5 \(\upmu \)m thick. By combining maskless lithography, patterned surface with nanostructures can be easily formed in just one step without any special treatment. This helps us to generate highly controllable hydrophilic-hydrophobic surface effectively in a very simple and low-cost way. With this method self-assembled droplet microarrays are successfully achieved. The results offer a new idea for the control of surface wettability and may find wide potential applications in microfluidics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Y.P. Hou, S.L. Feng, L.M. Dai, Y.M. Zheng, Droplet manipulation on wettable gradient surfaces with micro-nano-hierarchical structure. Chem. Mater. 28(11), 3625–3629 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. O. Al-Khayat, J.K. Hong, D.M. Beck, A.I. Minett, C. Neto, Patterned polymer coatings increase the efficiency of dew harvesting. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 9(15), 13676–13684 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. W. Feng, E. Ueda, P.A. Levkin, Droplet microarrays: from surface patterning to high-throughput applications. Adv. Mater. 30(20), 1706111 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. J. Zhang, J. Liu, Z. Yu, S. Chen, O.A. Scherman, C. Abell, Patterned arrays of supramolecular microcapsules. Adv. Funct. Mater. 28(20), 1800550 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. A.H. Kunding, L.L. Busk, H. Webb, H.W. Klafki, M. Otto, J.P. Kutter, M. Dufva, Micro-droplet arrays for micro-compartmentalization using an air/water interface. Lab Chip 18(18), 2797–2805 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. D. Park, M. Kang, J.W. Choi, S.M. Paik, J. Ko, S. Lee, Y. Lee, K. Son, J. Ha, M. Choi et al., Microstructure guided multi-scale liquid patterning on an open surface. Lab Chip 18(14), 2013–2022 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. P. Samyn, M. Biesalski, O. Prucker, J. Ruehe, Dewetting and photochemical crosslinking of adhesive pads onto lithographically patterned surfaces. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 136(15), 47321 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. I. Nayshevsky, Q.F. Xu, A.M. Lyons, Hydrophobic-hydrophilic surfaces exhibiting dropwise condensation for anti-soiling applications. IEEE J. Photovolt. 9(1), 302–307 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. W. Feng, L. Li, E. Ueda, J. Li, S. Heiler, A. Welle, O. Trapp, P.A. Levkin, Surface patterning via thiol-yne click chemistry: an extremely fast and versatile approach to superhydrophilic-superhydrophobic micropatterns. Adv. Mater. Interfaces 1(7), 1400269 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. D. Xuemin, J. Wang, H. Cui, Q. Zhao, H. Chen, L. He, Y. Wang, Breath-taking patterns: discontinuous hydrophilic regions for photonic crystal beads assembly and patterns revisualization. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 9(43), 38117–38124 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. C.-Y. Chen, H.-H. Li, H.-Y. Chu, C.-M. Wang, C.-W. Chang, L.-E. Lin, C.-C. Hsu, W.-S. Liao, Finely tunable surface wettability by two-dimensional molecular manipulation. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 10(48), 41814–41823 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. C. Decker, A.D. Jenkins, Kinetic approach of oxygen inhibition in ultraviolet-and laser-induced polymerizations. Macromolecules 18(6), 1241–1244 (1985)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. C.E. Corcione, R. Striani, M. Frigione, Uv-cured methacrylic-silica hybrids: Effect of oxygen inhibition on photo-curing kinetics. Thermochim. Acta 576, 47–55 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. A.S. Gladman, E.A. Matsumoto, R.G. Nuzzo, L. Mahadevan, J.A. Lewis, Biomimetic 4d printing. Nat. Mater. 15(4), 413 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. A. Vitale, M. Quaglio, A. Chiodoni, K. Bejtka, M. Cocuzza, C.F. Pirri, R. Bongiovanni, Oxygen-inhibition lithography for the fabrication of multipolymeric structures. Adv. Mater. 27(31), 4560–4565 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. M.-J. Lee, M.-J. Kim, J.-S. Kwon, S.-B. Lee, K.-M. Kim, Cytotoxicity of light-cured dental materials according to different sample preparation methods. Materials 10(3), 288 (2017)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. S.C. Ligon, B. Husar, H. Wutzel, R. Holman, R. Liska, Strategies to reduce oxygen inhibition in photoinduced polymerization. Chem. Rev. 114(1), 557–589 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. R. Janusziewicz, J.R. Tumbleston, A.L. Quintanilla, S.J. Mecham, J.M. DeSimone, Layerless fabrication with continuous liquid interface production. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 113(42), 11703–11708 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. J.R. Tumbleston, D. Shirvanyants, N. Ermoshkin, R. Janusziewicz, A.R. Johnson, D. Kelly, K. Chen, R. Pinschmidt, J.P. Rolland, A. Ermoshkin, Continuous liquid interface production of 3d objects. Science 347(6228), 1349–1352 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. H.E. Jeong, R. Kwak, A. Khademhosseini, K.Y. Suh, Uv-assisted capillary force lithography for engineering biomimetic multiscale hierarchical structures: from lotus leaf to gecko foot hairs. Nanoscale 1(3), 331–338 (2009)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. J. Qiu, M. Li, H. Ye, J. Zhu, C. Ji, Fabrication of high fill-factor microlens array using spatially constrained thermal reflow. Sens. Actuators A Phys. 279, 17–26 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. R.N. Wenzel, Resistance of solid surfaces to wetting by water. Ind. Eng. Chem. 28(8), 988–994 (1936)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. H. Li, Y. Sirong, W. Xie, X. Han, X. Wang, A study about the influence of single-scale and dual-scale structures on surface wettability. Appl. Phys. A 123(5), 374 (2017)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. A.B.D. Cassie, S. Baxter, Wettability of porous surfaces. Trans. Faraday Soc. 40, 546–551 (1944)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. P.M. Johnson, J.W. Stansbury, C.N. Bowman, Photopolymer kinetics using light intensity gradients in high-throughput conversion analysis. Polymer 48(21), 6319–6324 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51475442), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and partially carried out at the University of Science and Technology of China Center for Micro and Nanoscale Research and Fabrication.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Precision Machinery and Precision Instrumentation, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, People’s Republic of China

    Peng Chen, Mujun Li, Jinfeng Qiu, Tao Zhang & Yuxuan Sun

Authors
  1. Peng Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mujun Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jinfeng Qiu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tao Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Yuxuan Sun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mujun Li.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chen, P., Li, M., Qiu, J. et al. Oxygen inhibition induced hydrophilic-hydrophobic surface for self-assembled droplet microarrays. Appl. Phys. A 126, 645 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-020-03830-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-020-03830-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation