Electrogates for stop-and-go control of liquid flow in microfluidics

Arango, Yulieth; Temiz, Yuksel; Gökçe, Onur; Delamarche, Emmanuel

doi:10.1063/1.5019469

Cited by 17 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Arango et al reported the control of microfluid transportation through building electrogates in the microchannel. [94] Different from the aforementioned integrated electrodes with hydrophobic SAMs, the electrodes they reported have semicircular trench patterns and were not modified by hydrophobic functional molecules. Integration of stimuli-responsive polymer brushes into microchannel surfaces provides advanced strategies for smart control of microscale flow.…”

Section: Liquid Surface Designmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…However, once an appropriate electric potential was applied, the SAM was removed from the electrode due to reductive desorption and the microvalve became hydrophilic, and the solution flowed across the valve region. Arango et al reported the control of microfluid transportation through building electrogates in the microchannel . Different from the aforementioned integrated electrodes with hydrophobic SAMs, the electrodes they reported have semicircular trench patterns and were not modified by hydrophobic functional molecules.…”

Section: Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inner Surface Design of Functional Microchannels for Microscale Flow Control

Wang

Yang

et al. 2019

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Fluidic flow behaviors in microfluidics are dominated by the interfaces created between the fluids and the inner surface walls of microchannels. Microchannel inner surface designs, including the surface chemical modification, and the construction of micro‐/nanostructures, are good examples of manipulating those interfaces between liquids and surfaces through tuning the chemical and physical properties of the inner walls of the microchannel. Therefore, the microchannel inner surface design plays critical roles in regulating microflows to enhance the capabilities of microfluidic systems for various applications. Most recently, the rapid progresses in micro‐/nanofabrication technologies and fundamental materials have also made it possible to integrate increasingly complex chemical and physical surface modification strategies with the preparation of microchannels in microfluidics. Besides, a wave of researches focusing on the ideas of using liquids as dynamic surface materials is identified, and the unique characteristics endowed with liquid–liquid interfaces have revealed that the interesting phenomena can extend the scope of interfacial interactions determining microflow behaviors. This review extensively discusses the microchannel inner surface designs for microflow control, especially evaluates them from the perspectives of the interfaces resulting from the inner surface designs. In addition, prospective opportunities for the development of surface designs of microchannels, and their applications are provided with the potential to attract scientific interest in areas related to the rapid development and applications of various microchannel systems.

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Section: Liquid Surface Designmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inner Surface Design of Functional Microchannels for Microscale Flow Control

Wang

Yang

et al. 2019

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“…In our previous work, we showed the basics of an e-gate for stopping biological buffers, human serum, and artificial urine at a trench geometry with a semicircular shape (23). Here, we provide further analysis on the operation of e-gate arrays and their use in more complex microfluidic networks with different channel widths and Concept on controlling, monitoring, sequential delivery, and merging of multiple liquids flowing in microfluidic chips using an array of electrically actuated microfluidic gates (e-gates) and a protocol applied from a smartphone.…”

Section: Operation Principle Of Programmable Liquid Circuitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The microfluidic chip and the peripheral device worked according to the protocol except for the last e-gate, which failed after holding the phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) solution for 50 min 30 s instead of 55 min (movie S4). This retention time is already long enough for many POC diagnostics applications but can be increased, if needed, using multiple e-gates connected using a cascade configuration, a wider channel for more stability, a less hydrophilic DFR, or a hydrophobic treatment applied to the Pd electrode (23).…”

Section: Programming the Flow Path Using A Smartphonementioning

confidence: 99%

Electro-actuated valves and self-vented channels enable programmable flow control and monitoring in capillary-driven microfluidics

et al. 2020

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Microfluidics are essential for many lab-on-a-chip applications, but it is still challenging to implement a portable and programmable device that can perform an assay protocol autonomously when used by a person with minimal training. Here, we present a versatile concept toward this goal by realizing programmable liquid circuits where liquids in capillary-driven microfluidic channels can be controlled and monitored from a smartphone to perform various advanced tasks of liquid manipulation. We achieve this by combining electro-actuated valves (e-gates) with passive capillary valves and self-vented channels. We demonstrate the concept by implementing a 5-mm-diameter microfluidic clock, a chip to control four liquids using 100 e-gates with electronic feedback, and designs to deliver and merge multiple liquids sequentially or in parallel in any order and combination. This concept is scalable, compatible with high-throughput manufacturing, and can be adopted in many microfluidics-based assays that would benefit from precise and easy handling of liquids.

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“…Here, we combine capillary-driven microfluidics with battery-powered flow elements to provide a flexible method to control and tune flow rates post-fabrication. This work is based on a concept called “electrogates”, which we previously developed for stop-and-go control of flow of liquids in capillary-driven microfluidic chips 22 . Electrogates combine electrowetting 23–26 with capillary pinning 27,28 to stop temporarily a liquid filling a wettable microchannel.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Programmable hydraulic resistor for microfluidic chips using electrogate arrays

Salva

Temiz

Rocca

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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Flow rates play an important role in microfluidic devices because they affect the transport of chemicals and determine where and when (bio)chemical reactions occur in these devices. Flow rates can conveniently be determined using external peripherals in active microfluidics. However, setting specific flow rates in passive microfluidics is a significant challenge because they are encoded on a design and fabrication level, leaving little freedom to users for adjusting flow rates for specific applications. Here, we present a programmable hydraulic resistor where an array of “electrogates” routes an incoming liquid through a set of resistors to modulate flow rates in microfluidic chips post-fabrication. This approach combines a battery-powered peripheral device with passive capillary-driven microfluidic chips for advanced flow rate control and measurement. We specifically show a programmable hydraulic resistor composed of 7 parallel resistors and 14 electrogates. A peripheral and smartphone application allow a user to activate selected electrogates and resistors, providing 127 (27-1) flow resistance combinations with values spanning on a 500 fold range. The electrogates feature a capillary pinning site (i.e. trench across the flow path) to stop a solution and an electrode, which can be activated in a few ms using a 3 V bias to resume flow based on electrowetting. The hydraulic resistor and microfluidic chip shown here enable flow rates from ~0.09 nL.s−1 up to ~5.66 nL.s−1 with the resistor occupying a footprint of only 15.8 mm2 on a 1 × 2 cm2 microfluidic chip fabricated in silicon. We illustrate how a programmable hydraulic resistor can be used to set flow rate conditions for laminar co-flow of 2 liquids and the enzymatic conversion of a substrate by stationary enzymes (alkaline phosphatase) downstream of the programmable hydraulic resistor.

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Electrogates for stop-and-go control of liquid flow in microfluidics

Cited by 17 publications

References 25 publications

Inner Surface Design of Functional Microchannels for Microscale Flow Control

Inner Surface Design of Functional Microchannels for Microscale Flow Control

Electro-actuated valves and self-vented channels enable programmable flow control and monitoring in capillary-driven microfluidics

Programmable hydraulic resistor for microfluidic chips using electrogate arrays

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