A New Drop Fluidics Enabled by Magnetic Field Mediated Elasto-Capillary Transduction

Abstract

This research introduces a new drop fluidics, which uses a deformable and stretchable elastomeric film as the platform, instead of the commonly used rigid supports. Such a soft film impregnated with magnetic particles can be modulated with an external electromagnetic field that produces a vast array of topographical landscapes with varying surface curvature, which, in conjunction with capillarity, can direct and control motion of water droplets efficiently and accurately. When a thin layer of oil is present on this film that is deformed locally, a centrosymmetric wedge is formed. A water droplet placed on this oil laden film becomes asymmetrically deformed thus producing a gradient of Laplace pressure within the droplet setting it to motion. A simple theory is presented that accounts for the droplet speed in terms of such geometric variables as the volume of the droplet and the thickness of the oil film covering the soft elastomeric film, as well as such material variables as the viscosity of the oil and interfacial tension of the oil-water interfaces. Following the verification of the theoretical result using well-controlled model systems, we demonstrate how the electromagnetically controlled elasto-capillary force can be used to manipulate the motion of single and/or multiple droplets on the surface of the elastomeric film and how such elementary operations as drop fusion and thermally addressed chemical transformation can be carried out in aqueous droplets. It is expected that the resulting drop fluidics would be suitable for digital control of drop motion by simply switching on and off the electromagnetic fields applied at different positions underneath the elastomeric film. We anticipate that this method of directing and manipulating water droplets is poised for its applications in various biochemical reaction engineering, an example of which is Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR).