Fluid carryover in pipette tips can lead to experiment failure, measurement inaccuracies and sample loss. It is one of the major causes of cross-contamination in general scientific procedures such as bacteriological work and immunoassays. Here, we introduce a novel straight forward technique to induce a highly repellent coating on the inner surface of the commercially available pipette tips in any size. Our methodology comprises plasma treatment of the tips, chemical vapor deposition of a fluoro-based silane on the tips, and lubricating the tips before usage (Figure 1a). After proper washing, a very thin layer of the fluorinated lubricant is locked within the induced fluorine groups at the surface of the treated tips. The lubricant-infused tips are able to effectively prevent non-specific adsorption of different chemicals and biomolecules such as blood and bacteria. The omniphobic properties of the lubricant-infused tips have been illustrated using a series of contact angle measurements with different solutions as well as the hysteresis contact angle and capillary rise method (Figure 1b). We have also performed 10-fold serial dilutions of a dye and shown that the lubricant infused tips can significantly reduce the carryover contamination (Figure 1c). Moreover, we have utilized the lubricant infused tips for pipetting blood samples and bacteria. The results show significant reduction in the blood clot (SEM images in Figure 1d) and bacteria attachment to the tips compared to untreated tips (Figure 1e).

Lubricant-infused pipette tips: An effective strategy to prevent fluid carryover and cross-contamination

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