Issue 2, 2006

Droplet-based microfluidics with nonaqueous solvents and solutions

Abstract

In droplet-based (“digital”) microfluidics, liquid droplets in contact with dielectric surfaces are created, moved, merged and mixed by applying AC or DC potentials across electrodes patterned beneath the dielectric. We show for the first time that it is possible to manipulate droplets of organic solvents, ionic liquids, and aqueous surfactant solutions in air by these mechanisms using only modest voltages (<100 V) and frequencies (<10 kHz). The feasibility of moving any liquid can be predicted empirically from its frequency-dependent complex permittivity, ε*. The threshold for droplet actuation in air with our two-plate device configuration is |ε*| > 8 × 10−11. The mechanistic implications of these results are discussed, along with the greatly expanded range of applications for digital microfluidics that these results suggest are now feasible.

Graphical abstract: Droplet-based microfluidics with nonaqueous solvents and solutions

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
02 Nov 2005
Accepted
01 Dec 2005
First published
09 Jan 2006

Lab Chip, 2006,6, 199-206

Droplet-based microfluidics with nonaqueous solvents and solutions

D. Chatterjee, B. Hetayothin, A. R. Wheeler, D. J. King and R. L. Garrell, Lab Chip, 2006, 6, 199 DOI: 10.1039/B515566E

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