Edge-effect-mediated microfluidics for fabrication of microporous membrane with well-defined size and shape.

Microporous membranes of well-defined porous size, shape, and distribution are significantly important for environmental engineering and biomedical treatment applications, where high-throughput precise filtration is required. However, efficient manufacturing of desired microporous membranes remains a great challenge. In this study, an cost-effective method, based on edge-effect-mediated microfluidics, is proposed for the fabrication of polymeric microsieves with well-defined micropore arrays. This method refers to a lateral spreading of a liquid prepolymer between the protruding parts of a template and the flat surface of a substrate. The edge effect enables the liquid prepolymer to bypass, instead of filling the microholes of the template. Based on the proposed method, two types of monodisperse SiO₂ microspheres were separated by solution filtration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]