One-Step Fabrication of Microchannels Lined with a Metal Oxide Coating

We demonstrate a simple, single-step method for metal/metal oxide coating on interior walls of microchannels in an elastomeric material like PDMS, which is the mainstay of microfluidic devices. The fabrication process involves electrodeposition of cuprous oxide on a metallic wire or a sheet, embedding it inside a PDMS matrix along with the cross-linker, curing and then swelling the PDMS elastomer, and finally pulling out the template metal wire or the metal sheet from the PDMS matrix. Stronger attachment of the metal oxide layer to PDMS allows the transfer of the metal oxide coating originally present on the template surface (wire or sheet) to the channel wall resulting in a microchannel/microslit lined with the metal/metal oxide layer. In view of the catalytic activity associated with transition metal oxides, this simple method offers a cost-effective and versatile technique to fabricate microfluidic and lab-on-a-chip devices which can be utilized as microcatalytic reactors or chemical filters. As a proof of concept, we have successfully tested the metal oxide coated microchannels and microslits as active sites for adsorption of iodide ions.