Rapid and controllable design of robust superwettable microchips by a click reaction for efficient o-phthalaldehyde and glucose detection

• Main Authors: Huang, Jianying, Yang, Hui, Mao, Jiajun, Guo, Fang, Cheng, Yan, Chen, Zhong, Wang, Xiaoqin, Li, Xiao, Lai, Yuekun
• Other Authors: School of Materials Science and Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Engineering::Materials; Superhydrophobic−superhydrophilic; Microchips
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/150778
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Superwettable patterns with superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic units have the capacity of enriching and absorbing microdroplets for multifunctional biosensing. Combining the advantages of superwettable micropatterns and a rapid click reaction, we first prepared a film using propargyl methacrylate–ethylene dimethacrylate and then created a superhydrophobic–superhydrophilic micropattern by a rapid thiol–yne click reaction. Due to the high wettability contrast, water droplets tend to be anchored in the superhydrophilic region. Molecules dissolved in a water droplet are therefore uniformly enriched in the superhydrophilic region after evaporation because of the Malangoni effect. This provides a rational strategy to develop novel patterned microchips for sensing applications. Combining with fluorescence imaging technology, the Ti superwettable microchip can be used to detect o-phthalaldehyde in water, with a detection limit as low as 10–7 mol L–1. In addition, taking advantage of the oxidative color rendering ability of glucose, the microchip, when fabricated on a glass substrate, can realize reuseable glucose detection with a detection limit of 2 mM within 15 min.