Compound droplet manipulations on fiber arrays

Abstract

Recent works demonstrated that fiber arrays may constitute new means of designing open digital microfluidic systems. Various processes, such as droplet motion, fragmentation, trapping, release, mixing and encapsulation, may be achieved on fiber arrays. However, handling a large number of tiny droplets resulting from the mixing of several liquid components is required for developing microreactors, smart sensors or microemulsifying drugs. Here, we show that the manipulation of tiny droplets onto fiber networks allows for creating compound droplets with a high complexity level. Moreover, this cost-effective and adjustable method may also be implemented with optical fibers in order to develop fluorescence-based biosensor.