A droplet robotic system enabled by electret-induced polarization on droplet

Ruotong Zhang; Chengzhi Zhang; Xiaoxue Fan; Christina C. K. Au Yeung; Huiyanchen Li; Haisong Lin; Ho Cheung Shum

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-50520-9

A droplet robotic system enabled by electret-induced polarization on droplet

Ruotong Zhang
, Chengzhi Zhang
, Xiaoxue Fan
, Christina C. K. Au Yeung
, Huiyanchen Li
, Haisong Lin^*
, Ho Cheung Shum^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

26 Citations (Scopus)

45 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

Robotics for scientific research are evolving from grasping macro-scale solid materials to directly actuating micro-scale liquid samples. However, current liquid actuation mechanisms often restrict operable liquid types or compromise the activity of biochemical samples by introducing interfering mediums. Here, we propose a robotic liquid handling system enabled by a novel droplet actuation mechanism, termed electret-induced polarization on droplet (EPD). EPD enables all-liquid actuation in principle and experimentally exhibits generality for actuating various inorganic/organic liquids with relative permittivity ranging from 2.25 to 84.2 and volume from 500 nL to 1 mL. Moreover, EPD is capable of actuating various biochemical samples without compromising their activities, including various body fluids, living cells, and proteins. A robotic system is also coupled with the EPD mechanism to enable full automation. EPD’s high adaptability with liquid types and biochemical samples thus promotes the automation of liquid-based scientific experiments across multiple disciplines. © The Author(s) 2024.

Original language	English
Article number	6220
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	15
Online published	23 Jul 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-50520-9
Publication status	Published - 2024
Externally published	Yes

Funding

We are grateful to use SUSTech Core Facilities for the fabrication of the EWOD upper and lower plate and providing the access to mask aligner. We thank Dr. Xing Cheng at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology for providing the access to CVD equipment, digital microfluidics platform, and fluorescence microscope. We thank Mr. Miao Xu for providing the living E. coli. We’d also like to thank Dr. Yang Cao, Dr. Xiaolai Li, Dr. Wei Li, and Mr. Tianshu Jiang for the discussion. This work was supported by the General Research Fund (Nos.17307919, 17303123) from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, and the Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Hong Kong and Macau) (21922816) from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), which were all received by H.C.S. H.L. acknowledges support from the NSFC Young Scientists Fund (Hong Kong) (No. 32201181), General Research Fund (No. 17208623), and HKU Seed Fund for Basic Research for New Staff. H.C.S. was funded in part by the Croucher Senior Research Fellowship from Croucher Foundation, and the Health@InnoHK program of the Innovation and Technology Commission under the Hong Kong SAR government.

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This full text is made available under CC-BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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title = "A droplet robotic system enabled by electret-induced polarization on droplet",

abstract = "Robotics for scientific research are evolving from grasping macro-scale solid materials to directly actuating micro-scale liquid samples. However, current liquid actuation mechanisms often restrict operable liquid types or compromise the activity of biochemical samples by introducing interfering mediums. Here, we propose a robotic liquid handling system enabled by a novel droplet actuation mechanism, termed electret-induced polarization on droplet (EPD). EPD enables all-liquid actuation in principle and experimentally exhibits generality for actuating various inorganic/organic liquids with relative permittivity ranging from 2.25 to 84.2 and volume from 500 nL to 1 mL. Moreover, EPD is capable of actuating various biochemical samples without compromising their activities, including various body fluids, living cells, and proteins. A robotic system is also coupled with the EPD mechanism to enable full automation. EPD{\textquoteright}s high adaptability with liquid types and biochemical samples thus promotes the automation of liquid-based scientific experiments across multiple disciplines. {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2024.",

author = "Ruotong Zhang and Chengzhi Zhang and Xiaoxue Fan and \{Au Yeung\}, \{Christina C. K.\} and Huiyanchen Li and Haisong Lin and Shum, \{Ho Cheung\}",

year = "2024",

doi = "10.1038/s41467-024-50520-9",

language = "English",

volume = "15",

journal = "Nature Communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

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T1 - A droplet robotic system enabled by electret-induced polarization on droplet

AU - Zhang, Ruotong

AU - Zhang, Chengzhi

AU - Fan, Xiaoxue

AU - Au Yeung, Christina C. K.

AU - Li, Huiyanchen

AU - Lin, Haisong

AU - Shum, Ho Cheung

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Robotics for scientific research are evolving from grasping macro-scale solid materials to directly actuating micro-scale liquid samples. However, current liquid actuation mechanisms often restrict operable liquid types or compromise the activity of biochemical samples by introducing interfering mediums. Here, we propose a robotic liquid handling system enabled by a novel droplet actuation mechanism, termed electret-induced polarization on droplet (EPD). EPD enables all-liquid actuation in principle and experimentally exhibits generality for actuating various inorganic/organic liquids with relative permittivity ranging from 2.25 to 84.2 and volume from 500 nL to 1 mL. Moreover, EPD is capable of actuating various biochemical samples without compromising their activities, including various body fluids, living cells, and proteins. A robotic system is also coupled with the EPD mechanism to enable full automation. EPD’s high adaptability with liquid types and biochemical samples thus promotes the automation of liquid-based scientific experiments across multiple disciplines. © The Author(s) 2024.

AB - Robotics for scientific research are evolving from grasping macro-scale solid materials to directly actuating micro-scale liquid samples. However, current liquid actuation mechanisms often restrict operable liquid types or compromise the activity of biochemical samples by introducing interfering mediums. Here, we propose a robotic liquid handling system enabled by a novel droplet actuation mechanism, termed electret-induced polarization on droplet (EPD). EPD enables all-liquid actuation in principle and experimentally exhibits generality for actuating various inorganic/organic liquids with relative permittivity ranging from 2.25 to 84.2 and volume from 500 nL to 1 mL. Moreover, EPD is capable of actuating various biochemical samples without compromising their activities, including various body fluids, living cells, and proteins. A robotic system is also coupled with the EPD mechanism to enable full automation. EPD’s high adaptability with liquid types and biochemical samples thus promotes the automation of liquid-based scientific experiments across multiple disciplines. © The Author(s) 2024.

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UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/pubmetrics.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85199255524&origin=recordpage

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-024-50520-9

DO - 10.1038/s41467-024-50520-9

M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal

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SN - 2041-1723

VL - 15

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

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ER -

A droplet robotic system enabled by electret-induced polarization on droplet

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A droplet robotic system enabled by electret-induced polarization on droplet

Abstract

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GRF: Single-cell-to-single-cell (SC2SC) Pairing for Hybridoma Production and Monoclonal Antibody Development

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