In situ characterization of microdroplet interfacial properties in digital microfluidic systems
Abstract
Real-time characterization of digital microfluidic lab-on-a-chip devices is important for biological and chemical applications in which the properties of the microdroplet are time variant. In this paper, a method for in situ characterization of microdroplet interfacial properties is introduced. The proposed characterization method relies on two submodules, namely the contact angle and capacitance sampling submodules, in a digital microfluidic system. In the contact angle measurement submodule, the microdroplet profile is acquired and an accurate contact angle is determined. In the capacitance sampling submodule, the capacitance of the system is measured by means of an