Micro Air Bubble Manipulation by Electrowetting Principle: Transporting, Merging and Eliminating

For the first time we report a series of micro air bubble manipulations (transporting, merging and eliminating of air bubbles) in two-dimensional microchannels filled with a water solution. Air bubbles (∼1.2 mm³ in volume) are driven by electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) principle. By sequentially energizing an array of electrodes covered with dielectric layers, micro air bubbles can be transported along a programmed path, merged into a single larger one, and eliminated out of a bulk water solution. These three fundamental micro bubble operations demonstrated will facilitate efficient micro bubble handling essentially required in micro gas analysis systems.