Optical Image-Based Dynamic Manipulation of Aqueous Droplets Immersed in Oil Medium

Abstract

We report on an optically reconfigurable microfluidic platform enabling large scale, parallel processing of oil-immersed aqueous droplets on a featureless photoconductive glass substrate using direct optical images. Aqueous droplets containing chemical and biochemical contents are manipulated by optical image-patterned virtual electrodes through dielectrophoretic (DEP) forces to perform various droplet manipulation functions including (1) continuous 2D transport, (2) droplet merging, (3) and parallel processing of sixteen droplets. Our platform promises a low cost, silicon-coated microfluidic system for large scale, multiplexed droplet-based biochemical analysis.