Electrowetting-on-Dielectric

Electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) is a versatile branch of digital microfluidics that offers accurate and fast droplet manipulation on an underlying insulating layer. This dielectric layer separates the droplets from consequently activated and deactivated electrodes. A clocked voltage is applied between these electrodes, generating the required electrostatic field to effectively alter the droplet’s interfacial energy for desirable droplet actuation. This technique provides effective control and manipulation of droplets due to its short response time, high programmability, negligible energy consumption, and the ability to integrate other functionality (e.g., sensors and heaters) on the same chip in a wide range of applications.

In MicroNanoSystemLaboratory (MNSL), different applications have been defined and made by optimizing and integrating various modules on this platform. Some of the remarkable previous projects include blood coagulation test, the effect of temperature and dielectric material on droplet velocity, and droplet division in a closed system. In addition to the above, microwire etching and PCR projects are in preparation on this platform.