Abstract
We demonstrate a new technique of heating aqueous droplets on conventional EWOD electrodes by using high-frequency high-voltage AC signals. At high actuation frequencies (10–1000 kHz), the droplet temperature rises due to Joule heating from the ohmic currents inside the drop. Using this direct heating technique, we were able to achieve temperatures of 93–94 °C, which is significant for several biochemical applications. The technique is studied extensively using experiments and modelling. Several performance parameters of this heating technique were compared with a standard microheater through experiments and simulation. For the presented technique, the substrate near the droplet was cooler in comparison to the microheater. This will reduce parasitic heating of nearby droplets. A comprehensive study regarding the optimization of the geometrical parameters and the capability to heat solutions to higher temperatures using lower voltage and higher frequency were also performed using simulations. As conventional EWOD electrodes are used for heating the liquid, separate microheaters are not required. This significantly simplifies design and allows us to heat any droplet at any location on the chip. This on demand reconfigurability of droplet heating is the primary benefit of this technique. To establish the abilities of our suggested method, two biochemical experiments were demonstrated.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 862-872 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Sensors and Actuators, B: Chemical |
Volume | 273 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 10 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors would like to thank Nonlinear Photonics and High-Power Lasers Laboratory and the Gas Sensors Laboratory at Centre for Nano Science and Engineering for providing us the IR cameras for the experiments. The authors would also like to thank SERB, Department of Science & Technology for the financial support. We further acknowledge the National Nanofabrication Centre supported by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for supporting our device fabrication and Proteomics Facility, Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science for performing the LC-ESI-MS/MS of the prepared solution.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier B.V.
Keywords
- Direct heating
- Droplet temperature rise
- Electrothermal flows
- Joule heating