Lab on a Chip Droplet Actuation Platform to Move Multiple Droplets

We have created a microfluidic system that is open and lets us dispense and control discrete droplets on flat plastic sheets. To do this, a superhydrophobic material is sprayed on pre-made plastic sheets and hydrophilic symbols are printed onto them with an inkjet printer. The patterned plastic sheets are connected to a two-axle tilting platform, which is powered by stepper motors, and gives the droplets a mechanical movement. We have tested multiple droplet operations, such as; delivery of droplets of different sizes, transferring multiple droplets simultaneously, mixing and combining multiple droplets, decreasing one large droplet into several small droplets, and moving droplets in one direction. As a demonstration, we have used a colorimetric test to measure glucose levels in sheep serum. We believe this system is preferable to silicon-based digital microfluidic devices due to the ease at which you can alter the hydrophilic symbols in the design, the amount of time it takes to print the plastic sheets, the bigger size of the area to accommodate more tests, and the lower cost as you can use off-the-shelf products.