Capillary kinetics of water in homogeneous, hydrophilic polymeric micro- to nanochannels

Abstract

Going with the flow: Homogenous, hydrophilic micro- to nanochannels of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) were fabricated by direct molding and UV-assisted bonding. By using these channels, the capillary kinetics of water was measured for potential pumpless, high-speed analytical tools. It was found that the capillary-filling speed inside a PEG channel (see fluorescence image) was two or three orders of magnitude higher than that inside a hydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane channel supported on a glass substrate.