Low-cost hydrophobic layer as a top plate in two-plate digital microfluidics

Abstract

Digital microfluidics is an emerging technology that is able to manipulate droplets individually. To develop this technology it is needed to use cheaper and more accessible materials for its fabrication. At present, materials commonly used for the hydrophobic layer in these devices are expensive materials that require a legal agreement. In this paper, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which is a common and cheap material in the field of microfluidic, is used as a hydrophobic material for both top and bottom plates of digital microfluidic devices. The droplet cannot be actuated using DC voltage in a surrounding air environment. The reason for the droplet pinning is the high contact angle hysteresis of PDMS surface and considerable thickness of hydrophobic layer on the top plate. In order to overcome this problem, we have exploited a suitable AC voltage (230 Vrms and 8 kHz) as well as changing the surrounding environment to the olive oil. Therefore this paper demonstrates the feasibility of using PDMS as a hydrophobic layer in two-plate digital microfluidics.