The optical adhesive NOA81 (Norland Products Inc.) is a promising UV-curable material for low-cost microfluidic applications. We demonstrated that its surface energy can be adjusted by different surface treatments or by mixing an additive in the uncured bulk polymer, which is a serious asset to the development of microfluidic systems. The surfaces were characterized by dynamic contact angle measurements and the chemical resistance of NOA81 microchannels was tested by flowing organic solvents therein. The control over the surface energy and the chemical resistance of the polymer was demonstrated by successful oil-in-water and water-in-oil droplet generation. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.