Vertical sidewall electrodes monolithically integrated into 3D glass microfluidic chips using water-assisted femtosecond-laser fabrication for in situ control of electrotaxis†
Abstract
A simple technique for the preparation of vertical electrodes on the sidewalls of three-dimensional (3D) glass microfluidic structures using water-assisted femtosecond-laser ablation followed by electroless plating is presented. The introduction of water during the laser direct-write ablation process greatly enhances the removal of the debris generated inside the glass, leading to an improvement in the quality of the ablated micropatterns. As a result, high-quality deposition of metal structures onto the ablated patterns can be realized by subsequent electroless plating processes. This new technique successfully performs sidewall metal patterning in 3D microfluidic structures with high flexibility. It is used to write the logo “LOC” in different sizes and form vertical electrodes 500 μm in height with an aspect ratio of ∼50. 3D glass microfluidic structures monolithically integrated with vertical electrodes, which are a kind of electrofluidic device, enable us to flexibly control the movement of C. elegans in channels based on electrotaxis.
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