Title :
Electrostatic transportation of water droplets on superhydrophobic surfaces
Author :
Torkkeli, A. ; Saarilahti, J. ; Haara, A. ; Harma, H. ; Soukka, T. ; Tolonen, P.
Author_Institution :
VTT Electron, VTT Tech. Res. Centre of Finland, Finland
Abstract :
This article reports electrostatic transportation of water droplets on superhydrophobic alkylketene dimer (AKD) and Teflon AF/sup R/ surfaces. The actuation is based on electrostatic forces generated by metal electrodes placed underneath the surface. By switching the electrode voltages, the droplets moved stepwise along the electrode paths. The lowest voltage which resulted continuous movement was 124 VAC (rms) and the maximum speed was over 1 cm/s which shows great improvement with respect to previously reported electrostatic actuation of water droplets in open air [M. Washizu, "Electrostatic Actuation of Liquid Droplets for microreactor Applications", IEEE Trans. Ind. App. 34, 4 (1998), pp. 732-737].
Keywords :
drops; electrostatic actuators; microfluidics; Teflon AF; alkylketene dimer; electrode voltages; electrostatic actuation; electrostatic transportation; metal electrodes; microfluidics; superhydrophobic surfaces; water droplets; Biotechnology; Electrodes; Electrostatic actuators; Equations; Hysteresis; Rough surfaces; Solids; Surface roughness; Transportation; Voltage;
Conference_Titel :
Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, 2001. MEMS 2001. The 14th IEEE International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Interlaken, Switzerland
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-5998-4
DOI :
10.1109/MEMSYS.2001.906582
