DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING THE DISPLACEMENT OF A VOLUME OF LIQUID BETWEEN TWO OR MORE SOLID SUBSTRATES AND DISPLACEMENT METHOD

• US 20090134009A1
• Filed: 07/24/2006
• Published: 05/28/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Commissariat a L'Energie Atomique (AES Corporation), CNRS
• Original Assignee: Commissariat a L'Energie Atomique (AES Corporation), CNRS
• Inventors: Roux, Jean Maxime, Fouillet, Yves, Achard, Jean Luc
• Application Number:
  US11/997,498
• Publication Number:
  US 20090134009A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 204/164
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 33/3021 the components to be mixed being combined in a single independent droplet, e.g. these droplets being divided by a non-miscible fluid or consisting of independent droplets
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 33/3031 using electro-hydrodynamic [EHD] or electro-kinetic [EKI] phenomena to mix or move the fluids
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2300/0819 Microarrays; Biochips
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2300/089 Virtual walls for guiding liquids
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2400/0415 electrical forces, e.g. electrokinetic
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 3/502769 characterised by multiphase flow arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 3/502792 for moving individual droplets on a plate, e.g. by locally altering surface tension
• CPC Class Codes: H02N 1/004 in which a body is moved along a path due to interaction with an electric field travelling along the path

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for displacing a volume of liquid (1) under the action of an electrical voltage, comprising: iv) a first substrate with a first electrode (4,5); v) a second substrate with a second electrode (4, 5) facing the first substrate; vi) means for applying a first voltage (3) between the first and the second electrode, one of the two electrodes comprising, in essence, a matrix (5) consisting of a number of microelectrodes and having means for applying a second voltage between two microelectrodes. The invention also relates to a method for displacing a volume of liquid (1).

Claims

1. A device for displacing a volume of liquid under the action of an electrical voltage, comprising:

a first substrate with a first electrode,

a second substrate with a second electrode, facing the first substrate, said second electrode comprising a matrix comprising a number of microelectrodes, characterized in that it comprises;

means (3) for applying a first alternating voltage between the first and second electrodes, the amplitude of the first voltage being such that the electrostatic forces exerted on the volume of liquid to be displaced (1) make it possible to detach it from an electrode and the half-period τ

of the first voltage being less than the time of flight T_v of the volume between the two electrodes, and

means (6) for applying a second voltage between at least two of said microelectrodes (5).

2. The device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a dielectric liquid (2) between the first and the second substrate.

3. The device as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that the density of the dielectric (2) is lower than or close to that of the liquid (1) to be displaced.

4. The device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the first substrate is a printed circuit.

5. The device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the first electrode consists essentially of a metal.

6. The device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the second support consists essentially of glass or of a polymeric material.

7. The device as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that the second electrode is transparent.

8. The device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the gap between the microelectrodes is less than the diameter of the volume of liquid to be displaced.

9. The device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the surface of the electrodes is textured.

10. The device as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that the texture has pads or a network of walls.

11. The device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the matrix of electrodes (5) extends along one or two dimensions.

12. A method for displacing a volume of liquid, in which said volume is initially in contact with a first substrate with a first electrode, facing a second substrate with a second electrode, one of said electrodes comprising a matrix comprising a number of microelectrodes, characterized in that it comprises the steps consisting in:

a) applying a first alternating voltage between the first and second electrodes (4, 5), the amplitude of the first voltage being such that the electrostatic forces exerted on the volume of liquid to be displaced (1) make it possible to detach it from an electrode and the half-period τ

of the first voltage being less than the time of flight T_v of the volume between the two electrodes,

b) applying a second voltage between at least two of said microelectrodes (5).

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, characterized in that the second voltage has a frequency equal to or in the vicinity of that of the first voltage.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, characterized in that the phase and/or the amplitude of the second voltage can be adjusted with respect to that of the first voltage.

15. The method as claimed in claim 12, characterized in that the volume of liquid is, after displacement in the second substrate, maintained against the second electrode.

16. The method as claimed in claim 12, characterized in that the potential applied to two adjacent microelectrodes is equal.

17. The method as claimed in claim 12, for causing two volumes of liquid to be displaced to coalesce by applying opposite charges when they are being brought closer together.