Two dimensional thermoelectric platforms for thermocapillary droplet actuation

Man-Chi Liu; Jin-Gen Wu; Ming-Fei Tsai; Wei-Shun Yu; Pei-Chun Lin; I-Chung Chiu; Huai-An Chin; I-Chun Cheng; Yi-Chung Tung; Jian-Zhang Chen

doi:10.1039/C1RA00896J

Two dimensional thermoelectric platforms for thermocapillary droplet actuation

Man-Chi Liu,^ac Jin-Gen Wu,^a Ming-Fei Tsai,^a Wei-Shun Yu,^a Pei-Chun Lin,*^a I-Chung Chiu,^b Huai-An Chin,^b I-Chun Cheng,^b Yi-Chung Tung^c and Jian-Zhang Chen*^d

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* Corresponding authors

^a Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
E-mail: peichunlin@ntu.edu.tw
Fax: +886 2 2363 1755
Tel: +886 2 3366 9747

^b Graduate Institute of Photonics and Optoelectronics & Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan

^c Research Center for Applied Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan

^d Institute of Applied Mechanics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
E-mail: jchen@ntu.edu.tw
Fax: +886 2 3366 5694
Tel: +886 2 3366 5694

Abstract

Thermocapillary droplet actuation on a substrate is based on the mechanism that droplets can be driven to the cooler regions via surface tension modulation by varying the temperature. The usual method of providing a temperature gradient or temperature difference for thermocapillary droplet actuation is via resistor heaters, in which the rise in temperature can be achieved by increasing the passing currents, yet the cooling function relies on the natural conduction and/or convection. A thermoelectric (TE) chip is advantageous in the temperature control. The heating and cooling functions can be manipulated simply by adjusting the direction of the input current into the TE chip. In this regard, the temperature setting can be precisely feedback-controlled by manipulating the amplitude and direction of current flows. This paper demonstrates the implementation of a two dimensional (2D) TE array for free-surface thermocapillary droplet actuation. The routing, merging, and cutting of droplets are successfully demonstrated on a hydrophobically patterned glass substrate overlaid on the TE array.

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Two dimensional thermoelectric platforms for thermocapillary droplet actuation

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