Trampolining of Droplets on Hydrophobic Surfaces Using Electrowetting

Abstract

Droplet detachment from solid surfaces is an essential part of many industrial processes. Electrowetting is a versatile tool for handling droplets in digital microfluidics, not only on plain surface but also in 3-D manner. Here, we report for the first time droplet trampolining using electrowetting. With the information collected by the real-time capacitor sensing system, we are able to synchronize the actuation signal with the spreading of the droplet upon impacting. Since electrowetting is applied each time the droplet impacts the substrate and switched off during recoiling of the droplet, the droplet gains additional momentum upon each impact and is able to jump higher during successive detachment. We have modelled the droplet trampolining behavior with a periodically driven harmonic oscillator, and the experiments showed sound agreement with theoretical predictions. The findings from this study will offer valuable insights to applications that demands vertical transportation of the droplets between chips arranged in parallel, or detachment of droplets from solid surfaces.