Electrowetting-based digital microfluidics: Toward a full-functional miniaturized platform for biochemical and biological applications

Digital microfluidics, with a distinctive manner of droplet actuation via electrowetting on individually addressable electrodes, has made tremendous scientific and technical advances in the last twenty years or so. Its unique advantages in reduced sample consumption, programmability and reconfigurability, ease for intelligent recognition and closed-loop control on compartmentalized liquid samples, and simplicity in integrating with other technologies, offer preciseness and flexibility in discrete biological and chemical sample handling, which bring in promising application opportunities to life science studies. Meeting the growing demands in biological and biochemical applications, this accurate liquid-handling platform now moves into a stage of high-level integration and instrumentation, highlighted by miniaturization and full functionalization. In this paper, we start with a comprehension of mechanisms related to DMF technology from which novel functions of DMF devices were derived, and from a technical perspective, we provide an in-depth review of recent developments in the DMF community on new approaches in DMF chip fabrication, control and automation of DMF manipulation and system integration, instrumentation, and applications.

Automated summary

Digital microfluidics (DMF) has achieved significant scientific and technical advancements in the past two decades due to its distinctive droplet actuation via electrowetting on individually addressable electrodes. Offering reduced sample consumption, programmability, reconfigurability, and ease of intelligent recognition and closed-loop control, DMF provides preciseness and flexibility in biological and chemical sample handling. This paper comprehensively reviews recent developments in DMF chip fabrication, control and automation, system integration, instrumentation, and applications, highlighting the trend towards high-level integration and miniaturization.