Journal ArticleDOI
Creating, transporting, cutting, and merging liquid droplets by electrowetting-based actuation for digital microfluidic circuits
TLDR
In this paper, the authors report the completion of four fundamental fluidic operations considered essential to build digital microfluidic circuits, which can be used for lab-on-a-chip or micro total analysis system (/spl mu/TAS): 1) creating, 2) transporting, 3) cutting, and 4) merging liquid droplets, all by electrowetting.Abstract:
Reports the completion of four fundamental fluidic operations considered essential to build digital microfluidic circuits, which can be used for lab-on-a-chip or micro total analysis system (/spl mu/TAS): 1) creating, 2) transporting, 3) cutting, and 4) merging liquid droplets, all by electrowetting, i.e., controlling the wetting property of the surface through electric potential. The surface used in this report is, more specifically, an electrode covered with dielectrics, hence, called electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD). All the fluidic movement is confined between two plates, which we call parallel-plate channel, rather than through closed channels or on open surfaces. While transporting and merging droplets are easily verified, we discover that there exists a design criterion for a given set of materials beyond which the droplet simply cannot be cut by EWOD mechanism. The condition for successful cutting is theoretically analyzed by examining the channel gap, the droplet size and the degree of contact angle change by electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD). A series of experiments is run and verifies the criterion.read more
Citations
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Uphill Movement of Sessile Droplets by Electrostatic Actuation.
TL;DR: A coupled electro-hydrodynamic model that includes conservative body and surface forces along with electrostatic effects is developed and analyzed to identify favorable conditions for uphill movement based on the inclination, actuation voltage, and volume of the droplet.
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Control of aqueous droplets using magnetic and electrostatic forces.
TL;DR: Surfactant addition into droplet solution was very effective for the elimination of electric charge, which resulted in the stable adsorption of a droplet to hydrophobic substrate under an applied voltage of DC 0.5-3 kV.
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Distributed Circuit Model for Multi-Color Light-Actuated Opto-Electrowetting Microfluidic Device
TL;DR: In this article, a distributed circuit model for multi-color light-actuated optoelectrowetting devices is presented. But the model takes into account the large variation of absorption coefficient (15×) of photoconductors in the visible spectrum and the nonuniform distribution of photogenerated carriers.
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Velocity Saturation in Digital Microfluidics.
TL;DR: Force-velocity plots are used to characterize droplet movement in digital microfluidics and a previously unreported ″velocity saturation″ effect was observed, leading to a new "force window" approach that delineates the optimum operation conditions for different liquids.
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Electrical Chips for Biological Point-of-Care Detection
TL;DR: This review summarizes these electrical lab-on-a-chip technologies and highlights opportunities to accelerate the transition from academic publications to commercial success.
References
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Fundamentals of microfabrication
TL;DR: The second edition of the Fundamentals of Microfabrication as discussed by the authors provides an in-depth coverage of the science of miniaturization, its methods, and materials, from the fundamentals of lithography through bonding and packaging to quantum structures and molecular engineering.
Journal ArticleDOI
Electrowetting-based actuation of liquid droplets for microfluidic applications
TL;DR: In this article, a microactuator for rapid manipulation of discrete microdroplets is presented, which is accomplished by direct electrical control of the surface tension through two sets of opposing planar electrodes fabricated on glass.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an overview of Micromachining Techniques, Mechanical Transducers, Optical Transducers and Ionizing Radiation Transducers for Microfluidic Devices.
Journal ArticleDOI
Electrowetting-based actuation of droplets for integrated microfluidics
TL;DR: In this paper, an alternative approach to microfluidics based upon the micromanipulation of discrete droplets of aqueous electrolyte by electrowetting is reported.