An EWOD-based micro diluter with high flexibility on dilution ratio

Abstract

Dilution is a common procedure in biological and chemical analyses to perform tests at different concentrations. In previously reported micro diluters, although they could provide a wide dilution range, only limited dilution ratios were demonstrated, i.e. low flexibility in dilution ratio. Here, a droplet-based micro diluter with high flexibility on dilution ratio is proposed, fabricated, and tested. Through combination of five different electrode sizes using electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) technique, the proposed micro diluter can provide 49 dilution ratios at dilution range from 1/2 to 1/50. Experimental results verify that different dilution ratios can be successfully generated, even at the most difficult low concentration range. Comparing to the design with equal electrode size in conventional EWOD-based microfluidic chip, the proposed design with unequal electrode sizes can reduce the operation steps to achieve high flexibility on dilution ratios efficiently.