An experimental investigation of the surface modification and thermal bonding of cyclic olefin copolymer for microfluidic devices

Abstract

This study is part of a project comparing between the suitability of acrylamide and N-Vinyl Pyrrolidone monomers, for surface modification of Cyclic Olefin Copolymer polymers applied in microfluidic devices.

This report covers two critical aspects in the fabrication of microfluidic devices, which are surface hydrophilicity and bond strength. It entails an in-depth investigation to discover the optimal conditions of each monomer with regards to monomer concentration used, irradiation time during ultra-violet grafting (UV-grafting) and temperature used during thermal bonding. Thereafter, it compares and determines which monomer is more suitable for microfluidic devices with regards to surface hydrophilicity and bond strength.

The suitability of these two monomers on other critical aspects such as biocompatibility and protein adsorption will be studied separately by another student in her final year project.