Low-voltage elctrostatic actuation of droplet on thin superhydrophobic nanoturf

This paper reports an electrostatic actuation of droplets on a NanoTurf surface. By employing the nanostructured layer instead of a flat and smooth dielectric, both a large driving force and low friction are achieved, presenting a droplet operation at a lower driving voltage compared with general electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) configurations. The dielectric NanoTurf layer is formed on electrodes by using laser interference lithography. With a contact angle of ~170deg and its hysteresis of ~5deg on syperhydrophobic NanoTurf, water droplets are actuated at ~24 V, much lower than general EWOD.