A facile and simple high-performance polydimethylsiloxane casting based on self-polymerization dopamine

We present a new and facile method for polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) casting by dip-coating the master molds in an aqueous solution of dopamine. A poly(dopamine) film formed by self-polymerization of dopamine is used as the surface anti-adhesion coating for PDMS de-molding. Different master molds, such as metal, silicon and PDMS replica, were used to verify the feasibility of this proposed PDMS casting method. The poly(dopamine) coatings at various fabrication conditions were studied by using surface plasmon resonance technology. We found that it is very easy to form repeated poly(dopamine) coatings with similar thicknesses and density at fairly flexible conditions of self-polymerization. The water contact angles of the PDMS master molds and the positive PDMS replicas were studied after the PDMS master molds were immersed in the dopamine coating solution for different times. The de-molding process was then measured by surface plasmon resonance technology. The surface morphology of the master molds and the PDMS replicas were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Results demonstrate that the poly(dopamine) coating exhibits a strong release property in the PDMS de-molding process and has good stickiness after PDMS de-molding a dozen times. The package performances of the PDMS replicas were detected and compared by bonding experiments. PDMS replicas after a second round of de-molding present a little higher package performance than that of the PDMS replicas with an anti-sticking agent of silane. The biochemical properties of PDMS replicas were studied through fluorescence immunoassay experiments. The PDMS replicas present similar biochemical properties to the bare PDMS. This biomimetic surface modification method of dopamine for PDMS casting has a great potential for preparing microdevices for various biological and clinical applications.