A parametric study of interdigital electrodes for achieving high droplet speed in electrowetting

Electrowetting (EW) is a phenomenon that attracted much attention in recent years for its wide applications in Lab-On-a-Chip (LOC) devices. Understanding the parameters that affect this phenomenon is a key for enhancing the droplet transport rate and consequently increasing the volumetric flow rate. Here we used the EDEW 2.0 simulation tools. This software uses the well-known code of The Surface Evolver incorporated with a user-friendly GUI. The effects of parameters include geometric electrode dimensions, dielectric layer thickness, and applied voltage for water droplet volume (1 µL) is discussed. By simulation of the process, the consequent energy curve for every case is obtained. The results show for increasing the droplet transport rate or droplet speed, parameters likes applied voltage, dielectric layer thickness, and electrode width have optimum values that can be determined for a specific droplet volume.