Effect of wetting on capillary pumping in microchannels

We investigate capillary pumping in microchannels both experimentally and numerically. Putting two droplets of different sizes at the in/outlet of a microchannel, there will in general be a flow from the smaller droplet to the larger one due to the Laplace pressure difference. We show that an unusual flow from a larger droplet into a smaller one is possible by manipulating the wetting properties, notably the contact line pinning. In addition, we propose a way to actively control the flow by electrowetting.