Fabrication of monolithic polymer nanofluidic channels via near-field electrospun nanofibers as sacrificial templates

摘要

This paper reports a facile and maskless method for fabricat-ning nanofluidic channel arrays using near-field electrospinning (NFES)ntemplates with prescribed patterns and the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)nmolding technique. Nanochannels were fabricated monolithically throughnthreemain steps: 1) direct-writing nanofiber arrays onto a silicon substratenusing NFES, 2) PDMS molding of the prescribed nanofibers patterns,nand 3) plasma treating PDMS substrate to promote the adhesion andnbonding process. The nanochannels fabricated in this study had chan-nnel widths ranging from 500 to 1300 nm and depths of 70 to 500 nm,nand were patterned in a fashion similar to the wire bonding processnroutinely used in the semiconductor industry. The nanochannel dimen-nsions were predominantly dictated by electrospun nanofibers, showingnthat NFES is capable of depositing nanofibers with a diameter down ton∼50 nm. Results show that reliable and repeatable nanofluidic channelnarrays were speedily fabricated at a very low cost, while nanofluidic pat-nterns and dimensions are predominantly controlled by NFES in a direct-nwrite, addressablemanner