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Updated: Nov 2, 2025
Taking Advantage of Reduced Droplet-surface Interaction to Optimize Transport of Bioanalytes in Digital Microfluidics
Published on: November 10, 2014
Selective control of the contact and transport between droplet pairs by electrowetting-on-dielectric for
Satoshi Konishi1,2,3, Chikara Ohya4, Tatsuhiro Yamada4
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu, 525-8577, Japan. konishi@se.ritsumei.ac.jp.
Abstract:
Methodological advances in on-chip technology enable high-throughput drug screening, such as droplet-array sandwiching technology. Droplet-array sandwiching technology involves upper and lower substrates with a droplet-array designed for a one-step process. This technology is, however, limited to batch manipulation of the droplet-array. Here, we propose a method for selective control of individual droplets, which allows different conditions for individual droplet pairs. Electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) technology is introduced to control the height of the droplets so that the contact between droplet-pairs can be individually controlled. Circular patterns 4 mm in diameter composed of electrodes for EWOD and hydrophilic-hydrophobic patterns for droplet formation 4 μl in volume were developed. We demonstrate the selective control of the droplet height by EWOD for an applied voltage up to 160 V and selective control of the contact and transport of substances. Presented results will provide useful method for advanced drug screening, including cell-based screening.
