Achieving the increasingly fast mixing requirements posed by the chemical, biological, and life science community for confined microchannel droplet flows remains an engineering challenge. The viscous and surface tension forces that often dominate microflows undermine fast, efficient mixing. A novel mixing arrangement based on droplet collisions has been developed that significantly improves mix...

In this work, the manipulation of an electrically charged droplet bouncing on a vertically vibrated bath is investigated. When a horizontal, uniform, and static electric field is applied to it, a motion is induced. The droplet is accelerated when the droplet is small. On the other hand, large droplets appear to move with a constant speed that depends linearly on the applied electrical field. In...

Lipid droplets are the universal cellular organelles for the transient or long-term storage of lipids. The number, size and composition of lipid droplets vary greatly within cells in a homogenous population as well as in different cell types. The variability of intracellular lipid-storage organelles reflects the diversification of lipid droplet composition and function. Lipid droplet diversific...

We report an infrared (IR) optical switch using a wedge-like cell. A glycerol droplet is placed in the cell and its surrounding is filled with silicone oil. The droplet has minimal surface area to volume (SA/V) ratio in the relaxing state. By applying a voltage, the generated dielectric force pulls the droplet to move toward the region with thinner cell gap. As a result, the droplet is deformed...

Scattering of coherent light by an evaporating droplet of pure water several micrometres in size was investigated. The droplet was levitated in an electrodynamic trap placed in a small climatic chamber. The evolution of droplet radius and the evolution dynamics was investigated by means of analysing the scattering patterns with the aid of Mie theory. A numerical model of droplet evolution, inco...

This report investigates the impact of droplet temperature on the head-on collision of binary droplets on a superhydrophobic surface. Understanding droplet collision is critical to many fundamental processes and industrial applications. There are many factors, including collision speed, collision angle, and droplet composition, that influence the outcome of the collision between binary droplets...

We report on a light-actuated, droplet based microfluidic platform enabling two-dimensional (2D) droplet manipulation on an open chamber with a single-side, featureless photoconductive surface. The droplet actuation mechanism is based on recently demonstrated floating electrode optoelectronic tweezers (FEOET), which enable light-induced dielectrophoretic forces to manipulate aqueous droplets im...

In this work we have investigated the integrated diaphragm micropump as an active fluidic control approach for the on-demand generation of droplets with precisely defined size, frequency and timing. In contrast to valve-actuated devices that only modulate the flow of the dispersed phase being continuously injected, this integrated micropump allows the combination of fluidic transport and modula...

Understanding the phenomenon of droplet coalescence in nanoparticle suspensions is extremely important for the preparation of Pickering emulsions. A microfluidic platform, which can provide compulsive droplet collisions, was developed to imitate the droplet coalescence process in the early stages of emulsification. Microscope videos showed the variations in the droplet coalescence percentage, d...

We experimentally investigate the effects of high electric field on living cells inside a charged droplet under electrophoretic actuation. When an aqueous droplet suspended in a dielectric liquid contacts with electrified electrode, the droplet acquires charge. This charged droplet undergoes electrophoretic motion under strong electric field (1-3 kV/cm), which can be used as a droplet manipulat...