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A 3D microblade structure for precise and parallel droplet splitting on digital microfluidic chips.

Cheng Dong¹, Yanwei Jia², Jie Gao²

¹State-Key Laboratory of Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI, University of Macau, Macao, China. yanweijia@umac.mo and Faculty of Science and Technology - ECE, University of Macau, Macao, China.

|February 15, 2017

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This study introduces a novel 3D microblade digital microfluidic chip for precise droplet splitting. This enhanced digital microfluidic device achieves high accuracy and flexibility in fluid handling for diagnostics.

Area of Science:

Microfluidics
Biotechnology
Analytical Chemistry

Background:

Digital microfluidic (DMF) chips commonly use electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) for droplet manipulation.
Current DMF droplet splitting methods lack flexibility and exhibit significant volume variations in daughter droplets.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a novel DMF chip with a 3D microblade structure for improved droplet splitting performance.
To achieve precise control over droplet volume and splitting ratios for various fluids.

Main Methods:

Integration of a 3D microblade structure into a DMF chip.
Utilizing EWOD forces for mother droplet shaping and manipulation.
Fabrication of multiple 3D microblades for simultaneous droplet generation.

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Main Results:

Achieved an average droplet volume dividing error of less than 2% for deionized water, DNA solutions, and DNA-protein mixtures.
Demonstrated customized droplet splitting ratios up to 20:80.
Generated two to five uniform daughter droplets simultaneously using multiple 3D microblades.

Conclusions:

The 3D microblade DMF chip offers enhanced precision and flexibility in droplet splitting.
The technology enables rapid parallel detection of multiple pathogens, such as those causing sepsis, using DNA targets and molecular beacon probes.
This DMF chip is a promising tool for parallel disease diagnosis.