RUI: Polymer Nanocomposite Surface Modification and Characterization for Microfluidic Applications

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Hybrid polymer-inorganic materials represent an important development in the polymer materials field due to the ability to tailor the physical properties of these materials with varying chemical composition and percentage of the inorganic component. This Research at Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) transition grant will address two main areas of intellectual merit. The primary area is a fundamental study of the physico-chemical properties of surface modified polyhedral oligomeric silsequioxane (POSS)-copolymer materials when exposed to plasma and chemical environments. These materials will be studied as they offer the possibility of controlling or changing the surface properties of coatings applied to polymer microfluidic ("lab-on-a-chip") devices. Materials properties will be studied using a combination of surface analysis techniques including x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic and lateral force microscopy (AFM/LFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (VASE), infrared spectroscopy and contact angle measurements. Work with undergraduates will be centered for a ten week summer program on completing AFM and XPS studies commenced with NSF-RUI #0405345. The second major summer project is to further develop a rapid prototyping technique using photopolymerization of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) microchips being developed in our lab. This novel technique allows for the in-situ fabrication of buried layer structures, copolymerization to produce POSS based substrates and multi-layer 3D device architectures for microfluidic applications. Device designs and specifications tested in this project will be developed in collaboration with Dr. James Landers' microfluidics group at the University of Virginia in the Department of Chemistry. Device testing will include electroosmotic flow (EOF) of POSS-treated devices and extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometry (EFPI) measurements. This project addresses the technologically important field of biomedical devices and more specifically "lab-on-a-chip" microfluidic devices. The development of improved surface and coating materials is critical for the commercialization of these devices with applications including forensics and point-of-care medical diagnostics. In addition to the technical objectives of this project, a final objective is the scientific training of undergraduate research students in a highly interdisciplinary research environment. This project will involve the training of three undergraduate researchers in the materials science issues of structure-property relationships of polymers and surfaces. These students will be exposed to surface analytical techniques, vacuum science, microfabrication, polymer materials characterization and processing, and microfluidic technology and science. The participants in this program will also interact with graduate students and post-doctoral researchers in the Lander's lab at UVa through direct laboratory collaboration in order to better appreciate research at a major research institution. These activities help serve to broadly impact the pipeline of future scientists from undergraduates to the graduate level.