Fig. 2.

Overview of the monolith self-assembly process (A) A single monolith element suspended in water is drawn into a pipette and deposited within a droplet onto the microchannel substrate. (B) Under the influence of gentle agitation, the trapezoidal monolith seats into the channel in its preferred orientation maximizing surface contact with the sloped channel sidewalls. (C) To accelerate the insertion process, the water droplet is removed by pipette, followed by (D) drying of the substrate prior to solvent bonding.