Three-phase Contact Line Phenomena In Droplets On Solid And Liquid Surfaces: Electrocapillary, Pinning, Wetting Line Velocity Effect, And Free Liquid Surface Deformation

In this dissertation physical phenomena relevant to (i) an interface formed between two fluids and a solid phase (wetting line) and (ii) an interface between three fluids (triple contact line) were investigated. In the former case, the wetting line (WL) phenomena which encompass the wetting line energy (WLE) or pinning, the wetting line velocity (WLV), and the contact angle hysteresis, were studied using a micropump based on electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD). In the latter case, the interfacial phenomena such as the air film lubrication effect and the liquid free surface deformation were taken into account to explain the dual equilibrium states of water droplets on liquid free surfaces. EWOD was implemented to devise a pumping method for a continuous flow in a microchannel. An active micropump with a simple layout and no moving parts is designed and fabricated which has on demand flow on/off capability. The micropump is based on droplet/meniscus pressure gradient generated by EWOD. By altering the contact angle between liquid and solid using an electric field a pressure gradient was induced and a small droplet was pumped into the channel via a uniform flow rate. A surface tension based propellant method was introduced as a low power consumption actuation method in microfluidic devices. For an initial droplet volume of 0.3µL and a power of 12nW a constant flow rate of 0.02µL/sec was demonstrated. Sample loading on-demand could be achieved by regulating an electric potential. Unexpectedly, the flow rate of the pump was found to be constant in spite of the changes in the droplet’s radius, which directly affects the pump’s driving pressure. iv The WL phenomena were studied in details to unravel the physical concept behind the micropump constant flow rate during the operation. An interesting observation was that the shrinking input droplet changes its shape in two modes in time sequence: (i) in the first mode its contact angle decreases while its wetting area remains constant due to the pinning, (ii) in the second mode the droplet’s WL starts to move while its contact angle changes as a function of its velocity. Contact angles were measured for the droplet advancing and receding WLs at different velocities to capture a full picture of contact angle behavior due to pinning and WLV effects. These results are also relevant to the meniscus inside the channel. The changes on the contact angle caused by the presence of EWOD at the bottom of the channel were studied in detail. The EWOD based micropump was used as a platform to study the contribution of the pinning and WLV effects on its constant flow rate. The effects of the WLE on the static contact angle and the WLV on the dynamic contact angle in the pump operation were investigated. Also the effect of EWOD voltage on the magnitude and uniformity of the micropump flow rate was studied. Dynamic contact angles (as a function of pinning and WLV) were used to accurately calculate the pressure gradient between the droplet and the meniscus and estimate the flow rate. It was shown that neglecting either of these effects not only results in a considerable gap between the predicted and the measured flow rates but also in an unphysical instability in the flow rate analysis. However, when the WLE and WLV effects were fully taken into account, an excellent agreement between the predicted and the measured flow rates was obtained. v For the study of the TCL between three fluids, aqueous droplets were formed at oil-air interface and two stable configurations of (i) non-coalescent droplet and (ii) cap/bead droplet were observed. General solutions for energy and force analysis were obtained and were shown to be in good agreement with the experimental observations. Further the energy barrier obtained for transition from configuration (i) to (ii), was correlated to the droplet release height and the probability of non-coalescent droplet formation. Droplets formed on the solid surfaces and on the free surface of immiscible liquids have various applications in droplet-based microfluidic devices. This research provides an insight into their formation and manipulation

Droplets on liquid surfaces: Dual equilibrium states and their energy barrier

Floating aqueous droplets were formed at oil-air interface, and two stable configurations of (i) non-coalescent droplet and (ii) cap/bead droplet were observed. General solutions for energy and force analysis were obtained for both configurations and were shown to be in good agreement with the experimental observations. The energy barrier obtained for transition from configuration (i) to configuration (ii) was correlated to the droplet release height and the probability of non-coalescent droplet formation

Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BackgroundDisorders affecting the nervous system are diverse and include neurodevelopmental disorders, late-life neurodegeneration, and newly emergent conditions, such as cognitive impairment following COVID-19. Previous publications from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study estimated the burden of 15 neurological conditions in 2015 and 2016, but these analyses did not include neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11, or a subset of cases of congenital, neonatal, and infectious conditions that cause neurological damage. Here, we estimate nervous system health loss caused by 37 unique conditions and their associated risk factors globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2021.MethodsWe estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs), by age and sex in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2021. We included morbidity and deaths due to neurological conditions, for which health loss is directly due to damage to the CNS or peripheral nervous system. We also isolated neurological health loss from conditions for which nervous system morbidity is a consequence, but not the primary feature, including a subset of congenital conditions (ie, chromosomal anomalies and congenital birth defects), neonatal conditions (ie, jaundice, preterm birth, and sepsis), infectious diseases (ie, COVID-19, cystic echinococcosis, malaria, syphilis, and Zika virus disease), and diabetic neuropathy. By conducting a sequela-level analysis of the health outcomes for these conditions, only cases where nervous system damage occurred were included, and YLDs were recalculated to isolate the non-fatal burden directly attributable to nervous system health loss. A comorbidity correction was used to calculate total prevalence of all conditions that affect the nervous system combined.FindingsGlobally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer.InterpretationAs the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed

Flow Rate Analysis Of An Ewod-Based Device: How Important Are Wetting-Line Pinning And Velocity Effects?

An electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD)-based micropump was used as a platform to study the contribution of the pinning and wetting-line velocity effects on its flow rate. In this micropump, a droplet is driven into a microchannel using EWOD to manipulate a meniscus in the channel. An interesting observation was that the shrinking input droplet changes its shape in two modes: (1) in the first mode, droplet contact angle decreases while its wetting area remains constant (pinning) and (2) in the second mode, droplet wetting line recedes while its contact angle changes as a function of its velocity (dynamic contact angle). Unexpectedly, the micropump flow rate was found to be constant in spite of the changes in the droplet radius. The pump performance was studied to unravel the physical concept behind its constant flow rate. A detailed characterization of variation in contact angle due to pinning, wetting-line velocity, and EWOD was carried out. Dynamic contact angles were used to accurately calculate the pressure gradient between the droplet and the meniscus for flow rate estimation. It was shown that neglecting either the wetting-line energy or the velocity effect results in not only a considerable gap between the predicted and the measured flow rates but also an unphysical instability in flow rate analysis. However, when these effects were fully taken into account, an excellent agreement between the predicted and the measured flow rates was obtained. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

A Micropump Controlled By Ewod: Wetting Line Energy And Velocity Effects

A Laplace pressure gradient between a droplet and a liquid meniscus was utilized to create an on-demand constant flow rate capillary pump. Electrowetting on dielectric was implemented to induce the pressure gradient in the microchannel. For an initial droplet volume of 0.3 μL and a power of 12 nW a constant flow rate of 0.02 μL s-1 was demonstrated. The effects of the wetting line energy on the static contact angle and the wetting line velocity on the dynamic contact angle in the pump operation were studied. Sample loading on-demand could be achieved by regulating an electric potential. © The Royal Society of Chemistry

Active Surface Tension Driven Micropump Using Droplet/Meniscus Pressure Gradient

An active micropump with a simple layout and no moving parts is designed and fabricated which has on demand flow on/off capability. The micropump is based on droplet/meniscus pressure gradient generated by electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD). By altering the contact angle between liquid and solid using an electric field a pressure gradient was induced and a small droplet was pumped into the channel via a uniform flow rate. A surface tension based propellant method was introduced as a low power consumption actuation method in microfluidic devices. The liquid contact angle on the EWOD substrate was measured vs. electric potential and was used to obtain the capacitance of the substrate by fitting Young–Lippmann\u27s equation. The capacitance of the EWOD substrate was also calculated to be 10 ± 0.6 μF/m2 by measuring the dielectric layer thickness which showed excellent agreement with the former method. EWOD setup parameters such as capacitance, saturation contact angle, hysteresis contact angle and onset voltage were discussed. A coupled theoretical–experimental model was developed to predict how much voltage is needed to start the micropump for different droplet sizes. The modeling results revealed that for droplets with a radius smaller than 0.4 mm the droplet will start going into the channel even when no voltage is applied. For any larger droplet, a certain voltage is needed to start the pump. It was also shown that decreasing the size of the input droplet and increasing the voltage will result in an increase in the pump flow. A model for describing the shrinkage of the micropump input droplet was developed, based on direct observations, which was in agreement with the forced wetting described in literature. This model was compared to the other models used to describe passively pumped droplets and evaporating microdrops

Is Thermocapillary Enough For Droplet Actuation?

In case of immiscible liquids, when a droplet is released from a certain height, based on the surface shape at the air- liquid interface, the droplet can migrate toward or away from the heated surface. This can be explained based on surface tension gradient which is caused by thermal gradient at the interface (thermocapillary effect). Accordingly, a novel thermally-actuated platform is proposed, which is capable of exact droplet manipulation. An array of heaters is embedded on a silicon wafer, by which thermal maps can be applied on the platform, and droplets can be transported to desired locations without evaporation or contamination. Copyright © (2013) by the Chemical and Biological Microsystems Society All rights reserved

On-Chip Whole Blood Plasma Separator Based On Microfiltration, Sedimentation And Wetting Contrast

Miniaturized on-chip blood separators have a great value for point-of-care diagnosis. In our work, a combined design strategy—microfiltration, sedimentation in a retarded flow, and wetting contrast—was taken to overcome the known limitations of on-chip blood separators. Our microfluidic chip consists of a polydimethylsiloxane micropillar array and an etched glass with microchannel branches. The red blood cells are significantly slowed and gradually settled down due to micropillars and enlarged dimension of a chamber. An etched glass microchannel allows the extraction of blood plasma exclusively due to the capillary effect. The fabricated microfluidic device can separate blood plasma from a whole blood sample without any external driving force or dilution. The measured plasma separation efficiency was close to 100 % from human whole blood. Autonomous on-chip separation and collection of blood plasma was demonstrated

Graphene-Based Bimorph Microactuators

A novel graphene-on-organic film fabrication method that is compatible with a batch microfabrication process was developed and used for electromechanically driven microactuators. A very thin layer of graphene sheets was monolithically integrated and the unique material characteristics of graphene including negative thermal expansion and high electrical conductivity were exploited to produce a bimorph actuation. A large displacement with rapid response was observed while maintaining the low power consumption. This enabled the successful demonstration of transparent graphene-based organic microactuators. © 2011 American Chemical Society

Graphene-Based Heat Spreader For Flexible Electronic Devices

Graphene known for its superb physical properties, such as high transparency and thermal conductivity, is proposed as a solution to the problem of thermal management of the electronic devices, requiring transparency and cooling. It is shown that graphene heat spreader layer drives the heat out of the device more efficiently as compared with the commercially used metal thin films for integrated circuit cooling. An application of graphene heat spreader is proposed and tested in chip-on-film packaging. Graphene performance is compared with a gold layer with a similar transparency experimentally and theoretically as a proof of the efficient thermal management capability of graphene