Droplet dynamics driven by electrowetting

Abstract

Even though electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) is a useful strategy in a wide array of biological and engineering processes with numerous droplet-manipulation applications, there is still a lack of complete theoretical interpretation on the dynamics of electrowetting. In this paper we present an effective theoretical model and use the Onsager variational principle to successfully derive general dynamic shape equationsfor electrowetting droplets in both the overdamped and underdamped regimes. It is found that the spreading and retraction dynamics of a droplet on EWOD substrates can be fairly well captured by our model, which agrees with previous experimental results very well in the overdamped regime. We also confirm that the transient dynamics of EW can be characterized by a timescale independent of liquid viscosity, droplet size, and applied voltage. Our model provides a complete fundamental explanation of EW-driven spreading dynamics, which is important for a wide range of applications, from self-cleaning to novel optical and digital microfluidic devices.