An intelligent digital microfluidic system with fuzzy-enhanced feedback for multi-droplet manipulation

Abstract

The complexity of droplet hydrodynamics on a digital microfluidic (DMF) system eventually weakens its potential for application in large-scale chemical/biological micro-reactors. We describe here an intelligent DMF technology to address that intricacy. A wide variety of control-engaged droplet manageability is proposed and demonstrated through the operation of our modular DMF prototype, which comprises: (i) rigid profiling ability of different droplet's hydrodynamics under a real-time trajectory track of dropletderived capacitance, permitting accurate and autonomous multi-droplet positioning without visual setup and heavy image signal processing; (ii) fuzzy-enhanced controllability saving up to 21% charging time when compared with the classical approach, enhancing the throughput, fidelity and lifetime of the DMF chip, while identifying and renouncing those weakened electrodes deteriorated over time, and (iii) expert manipulability of multi-droplet routings under countermeasure decisions in real time, preventing dropletto-droplet or task-to-task interference. Altogether, this work exhibits the first modular DMF system with built-in electronic-control software-defined intelligence to enhance the fidelity and reliability of each droplet operation, allowing future manufacturability of a wide range of life science analyses and combinatorial chemical screening applications.

BioScript: programming safe chemistry on laboratories-on-a-chip

“…The DMFB ISA can be extended by integrating sensors [Alistar and Gaudenz 2017;Barsoukov and Macdonald 2005;Bhattacharjee and Najjaran 2012;Cooreman et al 2005;Gao et al 2013;J. Schertzer et al 2012;Lederer et al 2012;Li et al 2014Li et al , 2015Murran and Najjaran 2012;Ren et al 2004;Sadeghi et al 2012;Shih et al 2013Shih et al , 2011Suni 2008], optical detectors [Luan et al 2008[Luan et al , 2012Srinivasan et al 2004;White Royal et al 2013], heaters [Luo et al 2015], or online video monitoring capabilities [Basu 2013;Hu et al 2013;Li et al 2017;Shin and Lee 2010;Vo et al 2017].…”

A palm-size μNMR relaxometer using a digital microfluidic device and a semiconductor transceiver for chemical/biological diagnosis

“…21 The ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) coated glasses were purchased from HuaNan Tehnology Ltd (China) to serve as the bottom plate of the DMF device. The step-by-step assembly as well as the operation of the µNMR relaxometer can be found in the ESI video 1.…”

“…[20][21][22][23] DMF is also bio-compatible and has been adopted in a wide variety of applications, including cell culturing, [24][25][26] DNA amplification [27][28][29] and single protein molecule capturing. [20][21][22][23] DMF is also bio-compatible and has been adopted in a wide variety of applications, including cell culturing, [24][25][26] DNA amplification [27][28][29] and single protein molecule capturing.…”

Automation and interfaces for chemistry and biochemistry in digital microfluidics

“…Using a multiplexed ring-oscillator-based sensing circuit, Gao et al 50 showed that multi-droplet sensing could provide additional advantages (Fig. 5b).…”