caa a22 4500 605480281 CHVBK 20210128100414.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150401xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10544-014-9921-x doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10544-014-9921-x A three-dimensional electrode for highly efficient electrocoalescence-based droplet merging [Elektronische Daten] [Adrian Guzman, Hyun Kim, Paul de Figueiredo, Arum Han] Droplet merging is one of the key functions in the ever-widening applications of droplet microfluidics. Enhancing the efficiency of electric field-based droplet merging, namely electrocoalescence, can lead to an increase in platform stability and overcome one of the major bottlenecks in further improving throughputs of droplet microfluidic systems. In this work, a paired three-dimensional (3D) electrode design that can provide a uniform electric field within a droplet merging region, which is also properly aligned with the droplet dipole moments for highly efficient electrocoalescence is presented. A systematic study was conducted to compare the droplet merging performance of the presented 3D electrode design to other commonly used planar electrode, coplanar electrode, dual-coplanar electrode, and liquid metal 3D electrode designs. The presented 3D electrode design reduced the threshold input voltage required to obtain droplet fusion by up to 75%. In addition, a droplet merging efficiency of higher than 95% was consistently observed, compared to less than 85% merging efficiency for the conventionally used electrode designs. We expect that this droplet electrocoalescence design will improve the overall throughput and merging success rate in droplet microfluidic based high-throughput assays. Springer Science+Business Media New York, 2015 Droplet microfluidics nationallicence Droplet merging nationallicence Droplet electrocoalescence nationallicence 3D electrode nationallicence Guzman Adrian Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, 77843, College Station, TX, USA aut Kim Hyun Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, 77843, College Station, TX, USA aut de Figueiredo Paul Department of Molecular Pathogenesis and Immunology, Texas A&M Health Science Center, 77807, Bryan, TX, USA aut Han Arum Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, 77843, College Station, TX, USA aut Biomedical Microdevices Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 17/2(2015-04-01), 1-9 1387-2176 17:2<1 2015 17 10544 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-014-9921-x text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-014-9921-x text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Guzman Adrian Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, 77843, College Station, TX, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Kim Hyun Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, 77843, College Station, TX, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- de Figueiredo Paul Department of Molecular Pathogenesis and Immunology, Texas A&M Health Science Center, 77807, Bryan, TX, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Han Arum Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, 77843, College Station, TX, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Biomedical Microdevices Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 17/2(2015-04-01), 1-9 1387-2176 17:2<1 2015 17 10544