Open surface active and passive magnetic digital microfluidics

Abstract

Liquids form the biggest portion of this world and our body. Life grows in liquids in tiny scales and the microfluidics field tries to offer methods to study liquids in a similar scale. We see water droplets on different surfaces everywhere, thus one of the general questions we face: is it possible to move or manipulate a water droplet on a surface in the direction we wish. This work targets this question, and asks about how to move water droplets on a surface with another liquid, a synthesized magnetic liquid, in a robust and controllable way. This work shows how we can control the interaction between two liquids in order to move water droplets in a programmable manner, on a surface. Moreover, it presents a novel approach to use this magnetic liquid for micro-structuring surfaces, will be used for passive manipulation of water droplets by altering their interaction with the surface.