Electrochemical detection on electrowetting-on-dielectric digital microfluidic chip

In this work, the use of three-electrode electrochemical sensing system with an electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) digital microfluidic device is reported for quantitative analysis of iodide. T-junction EWOD mixer device was designed using arrays of 50-μm spaced square electrodes for mixing buffer reagent and analyte droplets. For fabrication of EWOD chips, 5-μm thick silver EWOD electrodes were formed on a glass substrate by means of sputtering and lift-off process. PDMS and Teflon thin films were then coated on the electrodes by spin coating to yield hydrophobic surface. An external three-electrode system consisting of Au working, Ag reference and Pt auxiliary wires were installed over EWOD electrodes at the end of T-junction mixer. In experiment, a few-microliter droplets of Tris buffer and iodide solutions were moved toward the mixing junction and transported toward electrochemical electrodes by EWOD process. A short processing time within seconds was achieved at EWOD applied voltage of 300 V. The analyte droplets mixed with different concentrations were successfully analyzed by cyclic voltametry. Therefore, the combination of EWOD digital microfluidic and electrochemical sensing system has successfully been demonstrated for rapid chemical analysis with minimal reagent consumption.