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This letter studies electrically induced droplet deformation to predictably pin and route droplets in a T-junction microchannel. Droplets of various sizes are shown to deform differently and respond to steep electric potential gradients. The relative magnitudes of inertial and electric forces are responsible for droplet deceleration and pinning, and may be manipulated to route a droplet in either direction of a T-junction. V

This work demonstrates that liquid droplet emulsions in a microchannel can be deformed, decelerated and/or pinned by applying a suitable electrical potential. By concentrating a potential gradient at the corners, we show that different droplets can be passively binned by size and on demand in a branched microfluidic device. The deformation, deceleration, squeezing and release of droplets in a three-dimensional numerical simulation are qualitatively verified by experiments in a PDMS microfluidic device. The forces required for pinning or binning a droplet provide a delicate balance between hydrodynamics and the electric field, and are obtained using appropriate non-dimensional parameters.

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