As a laboratory-on-a-chip application tool, digital microfluidics (DMF) technology is widely used in DNA-based applications, clinical diagnosis, chemical synthesis, and other fields. Additional components (such as heaters, centrifuges, mixers, etc.) are required in practical applications on DMF devices. In this paper, a DMF chip interconnection method based on electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) was proposed. An open modified slippery liquid-infused porous surface (SLIPS) membrane was used as the dielectric-hydrophobic layer material, which consisted of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane and silicone oil. Indium tin oxide (ITO) glass was used to manufacture the DMF chip. In order to test the relationship between the splicing gap and droplet moving, the effect of the different electrodes on/off time on the minimum driving voltage when the droplet crossed a splicing gap was investigated. Then, the effects of splicing gaps of different widths, splicing heights, and electrode misalignments were investigated, respectively. The experimental results showed that a driving voltage of 119 V was required for a droplet to cross a splicing gap width of 300 μm when the droplet volume was 10 μL and the electrode on/off time was 600 ms. At the same time, the droplet could climb a height difference of 150 μm with 145 V, and 141 V was required when the electrode misalignment was 1000 μm. Finally, the minimum voltage was not obviously changed, when the same volume droplet with different aqueous solutions crossed the splicing gap, and the droplet could cross different chip types. These splicing solutions show high potential for simultaneous detection of multiple components in human body fluids.

中文翻译：

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基于聚四氟乙烯膜的拼接数字微流控芯片设计

作为片上实验室应用工具，数字微流控（DMF）技术被广泛用于基于DNA的应用，临床诊断，化学合成和其他领域。在DMF设备的实际应用中需要其他组件（例如加热器，离心机，混合器等）。本文提出了一种基于电介质上电润湿（EWOD）的DMF芯片互连方法。将开放的改性滑液注入多孔表面（SLIPS）膜用作疏水介电层材料，它由聚四氟乙烯（PTFE）膜和硅油组成。氧化铟锡（ITO）玻璃用于制造DMF芯片。为了测试拼接间隙和液滴移动之间的关系，研究了当液滴穿过拼接间隙时，不同电极通/断时间对最小驱动电压的影响。然后，分别研究了不同宽度的拼接间隙，拼接高度和电极错位的影响。实验结果表明，当液滴体积为10μL，电极开/关时间为600 ms时，液滴穿过300μm的拼接间隙宽度需要119 V的驱动电压。同时，液滴在145 V时可以爬升150μm的高度差，而在电极未对准为1000μm时需要141V。最终，当具有不同水溶液的相同体积的液滴穿过拼接间隙时，最小电压没有明显变化，并且液滴可以跨越不同的芯片类型。