Lateral actuation of an organic droplet on conjugated polymer electrodes via imbalanced interfacial tensions

Abstract

This paper presents a new mechanism for the controlled lateral actuation of organic droplets on dodecylbenzenesulfonate-doped polypyrrole (PPy(DBS)) electrodes at low voltages (∼0.9 V) in an aqueous environment. The droplet actuation is based on the tunable surface wetting properties of the polymer electrodes induced by electrochemical redox reactions. The contact angle of a dichloromethane (DCM) droplet on the PPy(DBS) surface switches between ∼119° upon oxidation (0.6 V) and ∼150° upon reduction (−0.9 V) in 0.1 M NaNO₃ solution. The droplet placed across the reduced and oxidized PPy(DBS) electrodes experiences imbalanced interfacial tensions, which prompt the actuation of the droplet from the reduced electrode to the oxidized electrode. The lateral actuation of DCM droplets on two PPy(DBS) electrodes is demonstrated, and the actuation process is studied. The driving force due to the imbalanced interfacial tensions is estimated to be approximately 10⁻⁷ N for a 6 μL droplet.