In this article we introduce a novel polymer platform based on off-stoichiometry thiol-enes (OSTEs), aiming to bridge the gap between research prototyping and commercial production of microfluidic devices. The polymers are based on the versatile UV-curable thiol-ene chemistry but takes advantage of off-stoichiometry ratios to enable important features for a prototyping system, such as one-step surface modifications, tuneable mechanical properties and leakage free sealing through direct UV-bonding. The platform exhibits many similarities with PDMS, such as rapid prototyping and uncomplicated processing but can at the same time mirror the mechanical and chemical properties of both PDMS as well as commercial grade thermoplastics. The OSTE-prepolymer can be cast using standard SU-8 on silicon masters and a table-top UV-lamp, the surface modifications are precisely grafted using a stencil mask and the bonding requires only a single UV-exposure. To illustrate the potential of the material we demonstrate key concepts important in microfluidic chip fabrication such as patterned surface modifications for hydrophobic stops, pneumatic valves using UV-lamination of stiff and rubbery materials as well as micromachining of chip-to-world connectors in the OSTE-materials.
We present a facile two-stage UV/UV activation method for the polymerization of off-stoichiometry thiol-eneepoxy, OSTE1, networks. We show that the handling and processing of these epoxy-based resins is made easier by introducing a material with a controlled curing technique based on two steps, where the first step offers excellent processing capabilities, and the second step yields a polymer with suitable endproperties. We investigate the sequential thiol-ene and thiolepoxy reactions during these steps by studying the mechanical properties, functional group conversion, water absorption, hydrolytic stability, and thermal stability in several different thiol-ene-epoxy formulations. Finally, we conclude that the curing stages can be separated for up to 24 h, which is promising for the usefulness of this technique in industrial applications. INTRODUCTIONThe huge impact of thermoset polymers in applications ranging from biological implants to airplane building materials stems from the ability to precisely control their curing behavior while simultaneously allowing for tuned final properties. Epoxy resins belong to a particular versatile family of polymers that are widely used in industrial applications exhibiting good mechanical end-use properties, excellent bonding to a variety of substrates, and good chemical resistance. Considerable effort has been devoted to develop a plethora of different epoxies with end-properties optimized for many different applications.
Thiol-ene polymer/Si nanocrystal bulk hybrids were synthesized from alkyl-passivated Si nanocrystal (Si NC) toluene solutions. Radicals in the polymer provided a copassivation of "dark" Si NCs, making them optically active and leading to a substantial ensemble quantum yield increase. Optical stability over several months was confirmed. The presented materials exhibit the highest photoluminescence quantum yield (∼65%) of any solid-state Si NC hybrid reported to date. The broad tunability of thiol-ene polymer reactivity provides facile glass integration, as demonstrated by a laminated structure. This, together with extremely fast polymerization, makes the demonstrated hybrid material a promising candidate for light converting applications.
In this article, we present OSTE+RIM, a novel reaction injection molding (RIM) process that combines the merits of off-stoichiometric thiol–ene epoxy (OSTE+) thermosetting polymers with the fabrication of high quality microstructured parts. The process relies on the dual polymerization reactions of OSTE+ polymers, where the first curing step is used in OSTE+RIM for molding intermediately polymerized parts with well-defined shapes and reactive surface chemistries. In the facile back-end processing, the replicated parts are directly and covalently bonded and become fully polymerized using the second curing step, generating complete microfluidic devices. To achieve unprecedented rapid processing, high replication fidelity and low residual stress, OSTE+RIM uniquely incorporates temperature stabilization and shrinkage compensation of the OSTE+ polymerization during molding. Two different OSTE+ formulations were characterized and used for the OSTE+RIM fabrication of optically transparent, warp-free and natively hydrophilic microscopy glass slide format microfluidic demonstrator devices, featuring a storage modulus of 2.3 GPa and tolerating pressures of at least 4 bars.
Optofluidics, nominally the research area where optics and fluidics merge, is a relatively new research field and it is only in the last decade that there has been a large increase in the number of optofluidics applications as well as in the number of research groups devoted to the topic. Nowadays optofluidics applications include, without being limited to, lab-on-chip devices, fluid-based and controlled lenses, optical sensors for fluids and for suspended particles, biosensors, imaging tools, etc. The long list of potential optofluidics applications, which have been recently demonstrated, suggests that optofluidic technologies will become more and more common in everyday life in the future, causing a significant impact on many aspects of our society. A characteristic of this research field, deriving from both its inter-disciplinary origin and applications, is that in order to develop suitable solutions it is often required to combine a deep knowledge in different fields, ranging from materials science to photonics, from microfluidics to molecular biology and biophysics. As a direct consequence, also being able to understand the long-term evolution of optofluidics research is not an easy target. In this article we report several expert-contributions on different topics, so as to provide guidance for young scientists. At the same time we hope that this document will also prove useful for funding institutions and stake holders, to better understand the perspectives and opportunities offered by this research field.
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