Effect of Electrode Shape on Droplet Actuation in Electrowetting-Based Microfluidics

This article describes the effect of electrode shape in electrowetting-based droplet actuation. A Volume of Fluid technique is applied to track the 3-D interface. The Laplace equation is solved to predict the time and space dependent electric field in the domain. The onset of actuation, contact angle distribution at the three phase line, and the droplet morphology are studied for two electrode shapes; i.e. flat and crescent. The acceleration and the velocity of the droplet are also other important parameters to show the superior performance of crescent electrode in droplet actuation.