Open AccessElectrostatic tweezer for droplet manipulation
Author(s) -
Yuankai Jin,
Wanghuai Xu,
Huanhuan Zhang,
Ruirui Li,
Jane Sun,
Siyan Yang,
Min-Jie Liu,
Haiyang Mao,
Zuankai Wang
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2105459119
Subject(s) - flexibility (engineering) , nanotechnology , trap (plumbing) , sensitivity (control systems) , optical tweezers , throughput , computer science , oil droplet , materials science , physics , optics , chemical engineering , engineering , telecommunications , statistics , mathematics , electronic engineering , meteorology , wireless , emulsion
Significance The manipulation of liquid droplets plays a crucial role in multidisciplinary applications. However, existing methods still face many challenges, such as short distance, low velocity, restricted operating conditions, the need for extra responsive additives in droplet, and so on. To circumvent these constraints, here we develop a droplet electrostatic tweezer to trap the liquid droplet or faithfully guide the droplet motion in a remote manner. Our method allows high flexibility and precision in manipulating droplets of different types, volumes, and numbers under different working conditions, such as in open and closed spaces and on flat and tilted surfaces as well as in oil medium, imparting various applications, such as high-throughput and high-sensitivity Raman detection.