A fast fabricating electro-wetting platform to implement large droplet manipulation

Droplet actuation, merging, and splitting using controlled electro-wetting are implemented on the top of a standard printed circuit board (PCB) resulting in a fast prototyping microfluidic platform for biological experiments. In the system reported here the PCB is used as a substrate and is covered with Saran Wrap. The Saran Wrap can then be coated, or not, with a commercial water repellent liquid. The resulting hydrophobic surface is used as a supporting dielectric layer for the experiments. Results show that lower actuation voltages and frequencies are achieved, than previously reported, to move larger droplets (30 microliter). Single-plate and dual-plate techniques are compared showing that a single-plate system can utilize lower voltages while at the same time being simpler to construct. The platform is designed for tissue immunohistochemistry staining experiments.