High-Efficiency Interdigitated Electrode-Based Droplet Merger for Enabling Error-Free Droplet Microfluidic Systems.

ABSTRACT: Merging two droplets into a droplet to add and mix two contents is one of the common droplet microfluidic functions with droplet generation and sorting, performing broad ranges of biological and chemical assays in droplets. However, traditional droplet-merging techniques often encounter unsynchronized droplets, causing overmerging or mis-merging, and unwanted merging outside of the desired zone. This is more severe when the incoming droplets to be merged are polydisperse in their sizes, often observed in assays that require long-term incubation, elevated-temperature, and/or multiple droplet processing steps. Here, we developed an interdigitated electrode (IDE)-based droplet merger consisting of a droplet autosynchronizing channel and a merging channel. The autosynchronizing channel provide

SUBMITTER: Han JJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11359384 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature