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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On the droplet velocity and electrode lifetime of digital microfluidics: voltage actuation techniques and comparison
TL;DR: In this article, a control-engaged droplet actuation technique involving regular electronic hardware and computer-based software was investigated to simultaneously raise the velocity of droplet transportation and elongate the electrode lifetime by lowering the root-mean-square value of the actuation voltage.
Journal ArticleDOI
Surface-tension-driven liquid–liquid displacement in a capillary
TL;DR: In this article, the surface tension-driven displacement of a fixed liquid column by another liquid continuously flows into the capillary by surface tension was analyzed using the dynamic contact angle approach.
Journal ArticleDOI
Magnetic droplet actuation on natural (Colocasia leaf) and fluorinated silica nanoparticle superhydrophobic surfaces
TL;DR: In this paper, three types of hydrophobic surfaces were explored for their use in the magnetic actuation of water droplets containing magnetic particles, and a conventional fluoropolymer film was found to have excessive frictional resistance to effectively actuate droplets.
Journal ArticleDOI
Electrostatic charging and control of droplets in microfluidic devices
Hongbo Zhou,Shuhuai Yao +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors demonstrate noncontact electrostatic charging of droplets by polarizing a neutral droplet and splitting it into two oppositely charged daughter droplets in a T-junction microchannel.
Journal ArticleDOI
Error-Correcting Sample Preparation with Cyberphysical Digital Microfluidic Lab-on-Chip
TL;DR: This article considers imprecise droplet mix-split operations and presents a novel roll-forward approach where the erroneous droplets are used in the error-recovery process, instead of being discarded or remixed.
References
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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.
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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.
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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.