Technology to Avoid Leaching in a Microfluidic Water Sample Treatment System

Microfluidic systems can enable new methodologies in the investigation of water samples. Here is presented a microfluidic system used for natural water samples, in this case containing Dissolved Organic Matter which is the largest pool of organic carbon in the oceans with an important role in the global carbon system. The treatment was built to simulate the temperature change, which consists in thermal cycling from min. 4 deg C to a max. 90 deg C. The microfluidic system is built with a PCB based approach and only non-leaching plastic material (PMMA) is in contact with the sample. This work describes the qualification of the material and presents in detail the new PCB based technology for the sample preparation system.