Reactive polymer coatings that "Click".
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Hsien-Yeh Chen.
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The development of generally applicable protocols for the surface modification of complex substrates has emerged as one of the key challenges in biotechnology. The use of vapor-deposited polymer coatings may provide an appealing alternative to the currently employed arsenal of surface modification methods consisting mainly of wet-chemical approaches. Herein, we demonstrate the usefulness of chemical vapor deposition polymerization for surface modification in confined microgeometries with both nonfunctionalized and functionalized poly(p-xylylenes). For a diverse group of polymer coatings, homogeneous surface coverage of different microgeometries featuring aspect ratios as high as 37 has been demonstrated based on optical microscopy and imaging X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In addition, height profiles of deposited polymer footprints were obtained by atomic force microscopy and imaging ellipsometry indicating continuous transport and deposition throughout the entire microchannels. Finally, the ability of reactive coatings to support chemical binding of biological ligands, when deposited in previously assembled microchannels, is demonstrated, verifying the usefulness of the CVD coatings for applications in micro/nanofluidics, where surface modifications with stable and designable biointerfaces are essential. The fact that reactive coatings can be deposited within confined microenvironments exhibits an important step toward new device architectures with potential relevance to bioanalytical, medical, or "BioMEMS" applications.
In this report, we introduce a surface modification method for the fabrication of discontinuous surface patterns within microfluidic systems. The method is based on chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of a photodefinable coating, poly(4-benzoyl-p-xylylene-co-p-xylylene), onto the luminal surface of a microfluidic device followed by a photopatterning step to initiate spatially controlled surface binding. During photopatterning, light-reactive groups of the CVD polymer spontaneously react with molecules adjunct to the surface, such as poly(ethylene oxide). We demonstrate the potential of these reactive polymers for surface modification by preventing nonspecific protein adsorption on different substrates including silicon and poly(dimethylsiloxane) as measured by fluorescence microscopy. More importantly, three-dimensional patterns have successfully been created within polymer-based microfluidic channels, establishing spatially controlled, bioinert surfaces. The herein reported surface modification method addresses a critical challenge with respect to surface engineering of microfluidic devices, namely, the fabrication of discontinuous patterns within microchannels.