Control of electroosmotic flow in laser-ablated and chemically modified hot imprinted poly(ethylene terephthalate glycol) microchannels.

The fabrication of microchannels in poly(ethylene terephthalate glycol) (PETG) by laser ablation and the hot imprinting method is described. In addition, hot imprinted microchannels were hydrolyzed to yield additional charged organic functional groups on the imprinted surface. The charged groups are carboxylate moieties that were also used as a means for the further reaction of different chemical species on the surface of the PETG microchannels. The microchannels were characterized by fluorescence mapping and electroosmotic flow (EOF) measurements. Experimental results demonstrated that different fabrication and channel treatment protocols resulted in different EOF rates. Laser-ablated channels had similar EOF rates (5.3+/-0.3 x 10(-4) cm(2)/Vs and 5.6+/-0.4 x 10(-4) cm(2)/Vs) to hydrolyzed imprinted channels (5.1+/-0.4 x 10(-4) cm(2)/Vs), which in turn demonstrated a somewhat higher flow rate than imprinted PETG channels that were not hydrolyzed (3.5+/-0.3 x 10(-4) cm(2)/Vs). Laser-ablated channels that had been chemically modified to yield amines displayed an EOF rate of 3.38+/- 0.1 x 10(-4) cm(2)/Vs and hydrolyzed imprinted channels that had been chemically derivatized to yield amines showed an EOF rate of 2.67+/-0.6 cm(2)/Vs. These data demonstrate that surface-bound carboxylate species can be used as a template for further chemical reactions in addition to changing the EOF mobility within microchannels.