Towards Printable Open-Air Microfluidic Devices

We have demonstrated a novel microfluidic technique for aqueous media, which uses super-hydrophobic materials to create microfluidic channels that are open to the atmosphere. We have demonstrated the ability to perform traditional electrokinetic operations such as ionic separations and electrophoresis using these devices. The rate of evaporation was studied and found to increase with decreasing channel size, which places a limitation on the minimum size of channel that could be used for such a device.