Polydimethylsiloxane Fluidic Device with Polydopamine‐Coated Inner Channel for Production of Uniform Droplets

A polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)‐based fluidic device with two flow channels is fabricated by using a rapid prototyping method. The PDMS‐based fluidic device is used to produce water‐in‐oil emulsion (W/O) droplets due to its intrinsic hydrophobicity. To produce uniform oil‐in‐water (O/W) emulsion droplets, the inner channel of the PDMS fluidic device is coated with polydopamine (PDA) by flowing a dopamine precursor in the water channel of the fluidic device. The PDA coating is confirmed by an increase in morphological roughness and nitrogen content. In addition, the contact angle of the PDMS surface decreases from 95° to 30° during PDA coating, suggesting that the inner surface of the fluidic device is hydrophilic. Uniform W/O and O/W emulsion droplets are produced by the pristine PDMS and PDA‐coated PDMS fluidic devices, respectively.