Robust and versatile ionic liquid microarrays achieved by microcontact printing

Abstract

Lab-on-a-chip and miniaturized systems have gained significant popularity motivated by marked differences in material performance at the micro-to-nano-scale realm. However, to fully exploit micro-to-nano-scale chemistry, solvent volatility and lack of reproducibility need to be overcome. Here, we combine the non-volatile and versatile nature of ionic liquids with microcontact printing in an attempt to establish a facile protocol for high throughput fabrication of open microreactors and microfluidics. The micropatterned ionic liquid droplets have been demonstrated as electrochemical cells and reactors for microfabrication of metals and charge transfer complexes, substrates for immobilization of proteins and as membrane-free high-performance amperometric gas sensor arrays. The results suggest that miniaturized ionic liquid systems can be used to solve the problems of solvent volatility and slow mass transport in viscous ionic liquids in lab-on-a-chip devices, thus providing a versatile platform for a diverse number of applications.

Mechanism of gold (III) extraction using a novel ionic liquid-based aqueous two phase system without additional extractants

“…Ionic liquids (ILs) have attracted much attention for the character of ''green", such as negligible volatility, non-flammability, large liquid range, strong solubility, high thermal and chemical stability, the feasibility of structural and functional tenability [5][6][7][8], and thus have a vast applications [9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. In 2003, Rogers [16] and his co-workers studied the ionic liquid-based aqueous two phase systems (ILATPSs) firstly, making the ILATPSs a research hotpot.…”

Modification of Microelectrode Arrays with High Surface Area Dendritic Platinum 3D Structures: Enhanced Sensitivity for Oxygen Detection in Ionic Liquids

“…RTILs are a class of solvent that possess several archetypal properties, such as negligible vapor pressures, high thermal and chemical stability, wide electrochemical windows, high polarity, high viscosity, intrinsic conductivity, and good solvation abilities [ 15 , 16 ]. Their near-zero volatility requires only very small quantities of solvent (down to as low as micro or nano-litre quantities in some cases) [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ], and they can be dropcast onto the planar electrodes of miniaturized devices. This is of huge benefit compared to traditional solvents (e.g., water or organic solvents), which can evaporate in a relatively short amount of time, particularly in hot and dry conditions.…”

A reproducible approach to the assembly of microcapillaries for double emulsion production

“…Highlighted in a recent push to extend the viability of microfluidic devices for commercial and industrial products (Whitesides 2014), many groups have sought to provide engineering solutions to the existing technical obstacles. Some of the challenges that have been addressed include the removal and prevention of unwanted air bubbles (Nakayama et al 2006;Zheng et al 2010), improving world-to-chip connection (Fredrickson and Fan 2004;Liu et al 2003;Yang et al 2008), eliminating the need for large external syringe pumps (Tang et al 2014), reducing cross contamination (Yang et al 2008), elevating the importance of sample collection and preparation (Labuz and Takayama 2014), and overcoming solvent volatility (Gunawan et al 2014).…”