Integration of organic opto-electrowetting and poly(ethylene) glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) microfluidics for droplet manipulation

This paper reports a fabrication technology which integrates organic opto-electrowetting (OEW) with PEGDA-based microfluidics between stacked ITO glass chips for droplet generation and manipulation. Organic OEW can be realized by using titanium oxide phthalocyanine (TiOPc) as a photoconductive layer. Optical images can be projected on an organic OEW area to induce the local virtual electrodes which reduce the surface energy. Low-molecular-weight (LMW) PEGDA material is used to form stable and biocompatible microchannels between the stacked ITO glass chips by UV photopolymerization process. PEGDA-based microfluidics provides a simpler way to enhance droplet-in-oil applications in organic OEW. This technology requires only spin-coating and photolithography and is more cost-effective than previous methods.