Droplet Coalescence by Selective Wettability Enhancement in Microfluidic Devices

A new approach for droplet coalescence in microfluidic channels based on selective surface energy alteration is demonstrated. The proposed method involves patterning the surface of cyclic olefin copolymer (COC), a hydrophobic substrate attached to a polydimethylsiloxane hydrophobic microchannel, with graphene oxide (GO) using standard microfabrication techniques. Surface wettability and adhesion analyses confirmed the enhancement of the COC surface energy upon GO patterning and the stability of the GO film on COC. Three representative cases are illustrated to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method on the coalescence of droplets for different droplet flow regimes, as well as the effect of changing the size of the patterned surface area on the fusion process. The method achieves droplet coalescence without the need for precise synchronization.

Mixed Electroosmotic Pressure Driven Flow and Heat Transfer of Power Law Fluid in a Hydrophobic Microchannel

In this paper, a mathematical model has been developed to analyze the combined electroosmotic and pressure driven flow of power law fluids in a micro channel in the presence of Joule heating effects. The effects of Navier slip boundary condition and thermal radiation is examined for effective heat transfer in a hydrophobic microchannel. The analytical treatment has been performed for fluid flow and heat transfer effects in terms of flow governing parameters. This study highlights the effect of channel height to the electric double layer thickness and observed the flow variation due to heat transfer effect with the available scientific data. For a pure EOF, velocity slip have more significant role to get a maximum flow rate as expected. For both pseudo-plastic and dilatent fluids Nusselt number is decreased with the increment of the hydrophobic parameter and dimensionless pressure gradient where as increment in Joule heating effect enhance the heat transfer rate.