Electrowetting on liquid-infused film (EWOLF): Complete reversibility and controlled droplet oscillation suppression for fast optical imaging

Electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) has emerged as a powerful tool to electrically manipulate tiny individual droplets in a controlled manner. Despite tremendous progress over the past two decades, current EWOD operating in ambient conditions has limited functionalities posing challenges for its app...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2014-10, Vol.4 (1), p.6846-6846, Article 6846
Main Authors: Hao, Chonglei, Liu, Yahua, Chen, Xuemei, He, Yuncheng, Li, Qiusheng, Li, K. Y., Wang, Zuankai
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
132/122
147/135
639/301/1005/190
639/766/25
Contact angle
Electrodes
Electrolytes
Glass substrates
Humanities and Social Sciences
Hydrophobic surfaces
Interfaces
Microfluidics
multidisciplinary
Science
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Summary:Electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) has emerged as a powerful tool to electrically manipulate tiny individual droplets in a controlled manner. Despite tremendous progress over the past two decades, current EWOD operating in ambient conditions has limited functionalities posing challenges for its applications, including electronic display, energy generation and microfluidic systems. Here, we demonstrate a new paradigm of electrowetting on liquid-infused film (EWOLF) that allows for complete reversibility and tunable transient response simultaneously. We determine that these functionalities in EWOLF are attributed to its novel configuration, which allows for the formation of viscous liquid-liquid interfaces as well as additional wetting ridges, thereby suppressing the contact line pinning and severe droplet oscillation encountered in the conventional EWOD. Finally, by harnessing these functionalities demonstrated in EWOLF, we also explore its application as liquid lens for fast optical focusing.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/srep06846