Self-Sealed Vertical Polymeric Nanoporous-Junctions for High-Throughput Nanofluidic Applications

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Abstract
We developed a reliable but simple integration method of polymeric nanostructure in a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)-based microfluidic channel, for nanofluidic applications. The Nafion polymer junction was creased by infiltrating polymer solution between the gaps created by mechanical cutting, without any photolithography or etching processes. The PDMS can seal itself with the heterogeneous polymeric nanoporous material between the PDMS/PDMS gap due to its flexibility without any (covalent) bonding between PDMS and the polymer materials. Thus, one can easily integrate the nanoporous-junction into a PDMS microchip in a leak-free manner with excellent repeatability. We demonstrated nanofluidic preconcentration of proteins (β-phycoerythrin) using the device. Because the polymeric junction spans across the entire microchannel height, the preconcentration was achieved with high-pressure field or even in large channels, with the dimensions of 1000 μm width × 100 μm depth.