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Multi-droplets non-coalescence on open-chip electrowetting platform

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Abstract

The droplet non-coalescence is an interesting phenomenon that is observed in nature. This phenomenon of non-coalescence is slightly counter-intuitive as we expect liquid interfaces of the same surface tension to merge when they come in contact. However, with the help of modulating oil film in between the liquid interface, non-coalescence is observed for long durations. In this work, we have achieved the non-coalescence of multiple compound droplets on a coplanar EWOD device. The effect of droplet volume on the non-coalescence phenomenon has been studied in two-droplet systems. We have obtained the non-coalescence regime map for different operating parameters of applied voltage and frequency. We have also explored three-droplet systems and obtained a non-coalescence regime. This open-chip coplanar EWOD device configuration can be used to scale up this phenomenon to multiple droplets.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the National Nanofabrication Centre and the Micro/Nano Characterization Facility at CeNSE, IISc for the fabrication and characterization. All the authors would like to thank the Department of Science and Technology and Ministry of Education, Government of India for financial support. Rutvik Lathia wants to acknowledge Prime Minister's Research Fellowship for the financial support.

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Author notes

  1. Rutvik Lathia and Nitish Sagar contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Nano Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

    Rutvik Lathia, Nitish Sagar & Prosenjit Sen

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  1. Rutvik Lathia
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  2. Nitish Sagar
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  3. Prosenjit Sen
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Correspondence to Prosenjit Sen.

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Lathia, R., Sagar, N. & Sen, P. Multi-droplets non-coalescence on open-chip electrowetting platform. Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. 232, 859–865 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-022-00661-z

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