Digital Microfluidics with Bubble Manipulations by Dielectrophoresis

This paper presents basic bubble manipulations, including transporting, splitting, and merging, by dielectrophoresis (DEP) in an oil environment. In our presented method, bubbles are placed between parallel plates in an oil medium of a low vapor pressure, which eliminates the possibility of changing the gaseous composition of the bubble caused by evaporation of the medium. DEP has been previously investigated to actuate dielectric droplets and is adopted here to drive the oil environment as well as the immersed bubbles between parallel plates. In our experiment, air bubbles of 0.3 ml were successfully transported in a 20 cSt silicone oil medium between a 75 mm-high parallel plate gap. In addition, 0.6 ml air bubbles were successfully split into two 0.3 ml air bubbles, and then merged again by DEP. These successful manipulations make digital gaseous lab-on-a-chip a reality.