Pixelated Chemical Displays

TL;DR

The paper introduces pixelated chemical displays (PCDs), a scalable, reconfigurable liquid handling method that enables parallel chemical patterning on surfaces without physical barriers, expanding possibilities in surface processing.

Contribution

It presents a novel microfluidic pixelation technique for highly parallel, reconfigurable liquid manipulation on open surfaces, enabling chemical patterning without physical barriers.

Findings

Fabricated PCDs with up to 144 pixels.

Demonstrated projection of chemical images on various surfaces.

Enabled new surface patterning and processing methods.

Abstract

An increasing number of applications in biology, chemistry, and material sciences require fluid manipulation beyond what is possible with current automated pipette handlers, such as gradient generation, interface reactions, reagent streaming, and reconfigurability. In this article, we introduce the pixelated chemical display (PCD), a new scalable strategy to highly parallel, reconfigurable liquid handling on open surfaces. Microfluidic pixels are created when a fluid stream injected above a surface is confined by neighboring identical fluid streams, forming a repeatable flow unit that can be used to tesselate a surface. PCDs generating up to 144 pixels are fabricated and used to project chemical moving pictures made of several reagents over both immersed and dry surfaces, without any physical barrier or wall. Overall, this article sets the foundation for massively parallel surface processing using continuous flow streams and showcases new possibilities in both wet and dry surface patterning and roll-to-roll processes.