Self-powered digital microfluidics driven by rotational triboelectric nanogenerator

Digital microfluidic (DMF) has emerged as one of the most popular microfluidic platforms for sample-preparation in biochemical analysis and lab-on-a-chip applications. Operated with electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) mechanism, DMF conventionally requires an external power source to provide the actuation voltage, which limited its portability and broader applications in point-of-care testing (POCT) environment. Herein, a DMF device, self-powered by triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is presented. TENG possesses a number of unique characteristics, and is very attractive to be integrated with DMF. It only requires a simple configuration with low-cost fabrication that can improve the DMF portability, but it also provides high voltage, low current output characteristics that are consistent with the EWOD actuation requirements. Basic droplet manipulations, including transportation, split, merge, dispense, and even elongate to follow the electrode patterns of alphabets, on a DMF device powered with manually-rotated Disk-TENG are demonstrated for the first time. Further, droplets con-taining samples and reagents are transported and mixed on the programmed electrode patterns on the chip to conduct chemical reactions, including nucleic acid amplification and phenol red test, showing that Disk-TENG can serve as the power source for DMF chips in POCT applications.

Automated summary

Digital microfluidic (DMF) is a popular microfluidic platform for sample-preparation, but its reliance on an external power source limits its portability. This study presents a self-powered DMF device using a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), which provides high voltage and low current output characteristics consistent with DMF's requirements. Basic droplet manipulations and chemical reactions were successfully demonstrated on the TENG-powered DMF device, showing its potential in point-of-care testing applications.