CN116237097A - Microfluidic chip and microfluidic system - Google Patents

Microfluidic chip and microfluidic system Download PDF

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Publication number
CN116237097A
CN116237097A CN202310171548.1A CN202310171548A CN116237097A CN 116237097 A CN116237097 A CN 116237097A CN 202310171548 A CN202310171548 A CN 202310171548A CN 116237097 A CN116237097 A CN 116237097A
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China
Prior art keywords
electrodes
electrode
liquid drop
spray
microfluidic chip
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CN202310171548.1A
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Chinese (zh)
Inventor
贾艳伟
李浩然
麦沛然
马许愿
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University of Macau
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University of Macau
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Priority to CN202310171548.1A priority Critical patent/CN116237097A/en
Publication of CN116237097A publication Critical patent/CN116237097A/en
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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
    • B01L—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL LABORATORY APPARATUS FOR GENERAL USE
    • B01L3/00—Containers or dishes for laboratory use, e.g. laboratory glassware; Droppers
    • B01L3/50—Containers for the purpose of retaining a material to be analysed, e.g. test tubes
    • B01L3/502—Containers for the purpose of retaining a material to be analysed, e.g. test tubes with fluid transport, e.g. in multi-compartment structures
    • B01L3/5027—Containers for the purpose of retaining a material to be analysed, e.g. test tubes with fluid transport, e.g. in multi-compartment structures by integrated microfluidic structures, i.e. dimensions of channels and chambers are such that surface tension forces are important, e.g. lab-on-a-chip
    • B01L3/50273—Containers for the purpose of retaining a material to be analysed, e.g. test tubes with fluid transport, e.g. in multi-compartment structures by integrated microfluidic structures, i.e. dimensions of channels and chambers are such that surface tension forces are important, e.g. lab-on-a-chip characterised by the means or forces applied to move the fluids
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
    • B01L—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL LABORATORY APPARATUS FOR GENERAL USE
    • B01L2400/00—Moving or stopping fluids
    • B01L2400/04—Moving fluids with specific forces or mechanical means
    • B01L2400/0403—Moving fluids with specific forces or mechanical means specific forces
    • B01L2400/0415—Moving fluids with specific forces or mechanical means specific forces electrical forces, e.g. electrokinetic
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02A—TECHNOLOGIES FOR ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02A50/00—TECHNOLOGIES FOR ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE in human health protection, e.g. against extreme weather
    • Y02A50/30—Against vector-borne diseases, e.g. mosquito-borne, fly-borne, tick-borne or waterborne diseases whose impact is exacerbated by climate change

Abstract

The invention provides a microfluidic chip and a microfluidic system, and relates to the technical field of control structures. Comprising the following steps: the device comprises a top substrate and a bottom substrate, wherein the top substrate and the bottom substrate are oppositely arranged to form a cavity, a conducting layer is arranged on the bottom surface of the top substrate, an electrode layer formed by a plurality of electrodes which are sequentially arranged is arranged on the top surface of the bottom substrate, and a dielectric layer surrounding the plurality of electrodes is also arranged on the electrode layer; the first electrodes are used for driving the mother liquid drops to move to the spraying area, and the second electrodes are used for controlling the mother liquid drops to spray in the spraying area. The top substrate and the bottom substrate are oppositely arranged to form a cavity, the bottom surface of the top substrate is provided with a conductive layer, the top surface of the bottom substrate is provided with an electrode layer, the liquid drops can be driven to move and spray by applying driving voltage to the electrodes, the convenience of micro-fluid distribution is improved, the electrode layer is formed by a plurality of electrodes which are sequentially arranged, and the micro-fluid chip also has the characteristic of simple structure.

Description

Microfluidic chip and microfluidic system
Technical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of control structures, in particular to a microfluidic chip and a microfluidic system.
Background
In biochemical experiments, where dispensing a specific volume of liquid is often required, microfluidic sample manipulation becomes more challenging, dispensing of microfluidic samples on a chip is possible, dispensing of microfluidics with high accuracy is somewhat challenging, and it is also becoming a hotspot for research.
In the related art, channel-based microfluidic platforms have been developed to accurately measure and dispense microfluidics, on which a continuous microfluidic flow is forced through a microchannel using external forces such as air pressure to achieve microfluidic dispensing.
However, in the related art, by forcing a continuous microfluidic flow through a micro channel, driving the microfluidic movement requires a complicated external device, which is inconvenient for dispensing the microfluidic.
Disclosure of Invention
The present invention is directed to providing a microfluidic chip and a microfluidic system for solving the above-mentioned problems of the related art.
In order to achieve the above purpose, the technical scheme adopted by the embodiment of the invention is as follows:
in a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a microfluidic chip, including: the device comprises a top substrate and a bottom substrate, wherein the top substrate and the bottom substrate are oppositely arranged to form a cavity, a conducting layer is arranged on the bottom surface of the top substrate, an electrode layer formed by a plurality of electrodes which are sequentially arranged is arranged on the top surface of the bottom substrate, and a dielectric layer surrounding the plurality of electrodes is also arranged on the electrode layer;
wherein the plurality of electrodes comprises: a plurality of first electrodes of a first moving region, and a plurality of second electrodes of a jetting region communicating with the first moving region; the first electrodes are used for driving the mother liquid drops to move to the spraying area, and the second electrodes are used for controlling the mother liquid drops to spray in the spraying area;
the plurality of second electrodes includes: the device comprises a retention electrode and a spray electrode, wherein the retention electrode is an electrode close to the first moving area, the spray electrode is an electrode far away from the first moving area, and a spray neck is arranged on one side of the spray electrode, facing the retention electrode;
the retention electrode is used for retaining the mother liquor drops, and the spraying electrode is used for enabling the mother liquor drops to be sprayed through the spraying neck and accommodating formed satellite drops.
Optionally, the retention electrode is a regular polygon, and the number of edges in the regular polygon is greater than or equal to a preset threshold.
Optionally, the plurality of first electrodes are a plurality of electrodes of a preset geometry.
Optionally, the arrangement gaps of the plurality of first electrodes are smaller than the arrangement gaps of the plurality of second electrodes.
Optionally, the arrangement gaps of the first electrodes are any value from 10um to 30um, and the arrangement gaps of the second electrodes are any value from 40um to 100 um.
Optionally, the plurality of electrodes further comprises: a plurality of third electrodes of the second moving region, the plurality of third electrodes being sequentially arranged at positions close to the ejection electrodes; the third electrode is used for controlling the target liquid drop to pick up the satellite liquid drop in the second moving area.
Optionally, the dielectric layer is further provided with: and at least two fourth electrodes which are arranged around the retention electrode and the ejection electrode and belong to the same plane with the plurality of electrodes.
Optionally, the plurality of electrodes further comprises: and the fifth electrode of the liquid drop accommodating area is communicated with the first moving area so as to separate the liquid drop sample in the liquid drop accommodating area to generate the liquid drop, or the liquid drop sample is adopted to eat back the liquid drop.
In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a microfluidic system, including: the micro-fluidic chip of the first aspect comprises a controller, a signal generator, a relay array and any one of the micro-fluidic chips, wherein the input end of the relay array is connected with the output end of the signal generator, a plurality of output ends of the relay array are respectively connected with a plurality of electrodes in the micro-fluidic chip, and the controller is connected with the control end of the relay array.
The beneficial effects of the invention are as follows: the embodiment of the invention provides a microfluidic chip, which comprises: the device comprises a top substrate and a bottom substrate, wherein the top substrate and the bottom substrate are oppositely arranged to form a cavity, a conducting layer is arranged on the bottom surface of the top substrate, an electrode layer formed by a plurality of electrodes which are sequentially arranged is arranged on the top surface of the bottom substrate, and a dielectric layer surrounding the plurality of electrodes is also arranged on the electrode layer; wherein the plurality of electrodes comprises: a plurality of first electrodes of the first moving region, and a plurality of second electrodes of the ejection region communicating with the first moving region; the first electrodes are used for driving the mother liquid drops to move to the spraying area, and the second electrodes are used for controlling the mother liquid drops to spray in the spraying area; the plurality of second electrodes includes: the device comprises a retention electrode and a spray electrode, wherein the retention electrode is an electrode close to a first moving area, the spray electrode is an electrode far away from the first moving area, and a spray neck is arranged on one side of the spray electrode facing the retention electrode; the retention electrode is used for retaining the mother liquor drops, and the spraying electrode is used for enabling the mother liquor drops to be sprayed through the spraying neck and containing the formed satellite drops. The top substrate and the bottom substrate are oppositely arranged to form a cavity, the bottom surface of the top substrate is provided with a conductive layer, the top surface of the bottom substrate is provided with an electrode layer, the liquid drops can be driven to move and spray by applying driving voltage to the electrodes, the convenience of micro-fluid distribution is improved, the electrode layer is formed by a plurality of electrodes which are sequentially arranged, and the micro-fluid chip also has the characteristic of simple structure. And the spraying neck is arranged on one side of the spraying electrode facing the retention electrode, and an overlapping area does not exist between the spraying neck and the retention electrode, so that satellite liquid drops are independently accommodated on the spraying electrode after spraying, and the calculation of the satellite liquid drop volume is facilitated.
Drawings
In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings that are needed in the embodiments will be briefly described below, it being understood that the following drawings only illustrate some embodiments of the present invention and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope, and other related drawings may be obtained according to these drawings without inventive effort for a person skilled in the art.
Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a microfluidic chip according to an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an electrode in a microfluidic chip according to an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an electrode in a microfluidic chip according to an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of an electrode in a microfluidic chip according to an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 5a to 5d are schematic diagrams illustrating generation of mother liquor droplets according to embodiments of the present invention;
fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a microfluidic system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Detailed Description
For the purpose of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention more apparent, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are some embodiments of the present invention, but not all embodiments of the present invention.
Thus, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present application, as provided in the accompanying drawings, is not intended to limit the scope of the application, as claimed, but is merely representative of selected embodiments of the application. All other embodiments, which can be made by one of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments herein without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the present application.
In the description of the present application, it should be noted that, if the terms "upper", "lower", and the like indicate an azimuth or a positional relationship based on the azimuth or the positional relationship shown in the drawings, or an azimuth or the positional relationship that is commonly put when the product of the application is used, it is merely for convenience of description and simplification of the description, and does not indicate or imply that the apparatus or element to be referred to must have a specific azimuth, be configured and operated in a specific azimuth, and therefore should not be construed as limiting the present application.
Furthermore, the terms first, second and the like in the description and in the claims and in the above-described figures, are used for distinguishing between similar objects and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the data so used may be interchanged where appropriate such that the embodiments of the invention described herein may be implemented in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Furthermore, the terms "comprises," "comprising," and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not necessarily limited to those steps or elements expressly listed but may include other steps or elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.
It should be noted that, without conflict, features in embodiments of the present application may be combined with each other.
In biochemical experiments, where dispensing a specific volume of liquid is often required, microfluidic sample manipulation becomes more challenging, dispensing of microfluidic samples on a chip is possible, dispensing of microfluidics with high accuracy is somewhat challenging, and it is also becoming a hotspot for research.
In the related art, channel-based microfluidic platforms have been developed to accurately measure and dispense microfluidics, on which a continuous microfluidic flow is forced through a microchannel using external forces such as air pressure to achieve microfluidic dispensing. However, in the related art, by forcing a continuous microfluidic flow through a micro channel, driving the microfluidic movement requires a complicated external device, which is inconvenient for dispensing the microfluidic.
Aiming at the technical problems in the related art, the embodiment of the application provides a microfluidic chip, a top substrate and a bottom substrate are oppositely arranged to form a cavity, a conductive layer is arranged on the bottom surface of the top substrate, an electrode layer is arranged on the top surface of the bottom substrate, driving voltage is applied to the electrode to drive liquid drops to move and spray, the convenience of microfluidic distribution is improved, the conductive layer is formed by a plurality of electrodes which are sequentially arranged, and the microfluidic chip also has the characteristic of simple structure.
Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a microfluidic chip according to an embodiment of the present invention, where, as shown in fig. 1, the microfluidic chip may include: the top substrate 101 and the bottom substrate 102 are oppositely arranged to form a cavity, a conductive layer 103 is arranged on the bottom surface of the top substrate 101, an electrode layer formed by a plurality of electrodes 104 which are sequentially arranged is arranged on the top surface of the bottom substrate 102, and a dielectric layer 105 surrounding the plurality of electrodes 104 is also arranged on the electrode layer;
wherein the plurality of electrodes 104 comprises: a plurality of first electrodes of the first moving region, and a plurality of second electrodes of the ejection region communicating with the first moving region; the first electrodes are used for driving the mother liquid drops to move to the spraying area, and the second electrodes are used for controlling the mother liquid drops to spray in the spraying area.
In the embodiment of the present application, the droplet may be driven to move in the chamber by applying a driving voltage to one of the plurality of electrodes 104; according to the actual requirement, driving voltages are applied to different electrodes, so that the moving direction and position of the liquid drops can be controlled. When a driving voltage is applied to the adjacent electrode of the electrode corresponding to the liquid drop, the liquid drop is dragged to the position corresponding to the activated electrode under the driving of the wetting force. Based on the principle, the liquid drop can complete the operations of moving, ejecting and the like in the micro-fluidic chip. For example, the adjacent electrode on the left side of the electrode corresponding to the liquid drop is electrified, so that the liquid drop can be driven to move leftwards; and the adjacent electrode on the right side of the electrode corresponding to the liquid drop is electrified, so that the liquid drop can be driven to move rightwards.
Alternatively, the conductive layer 103 may be an ITO (indium tin oxide) layer, the dielectric layer 105 may be SU8 (an epoxy type, near ultraviolet negative photoresist), and the thickness of the dielectric layer 105 may be 10 μm (micrometers), which may be determined according to practical requirements or empirical values. In addition, a number of SU8 pillars may be fabricated on dielectric layer 105 to prevent drift of the droplets.
It is noted that the plurality of electrodes 104 are sequentially arranged, the first electrode and the second electrode are part of the plurality of electrodes 104, and the plurality of first electrodes and the plurality of second electrodes are also sequentially arranged, wherein the sequential arrangement means that the plurality of first electrodes and the plurality of second electrodes are sequentially arranged on the same horizontal plane, and no embedded and stacked arrangement mode exists; of course, the arrangement order of the plurality of first electrodes and the plurality of second electrodes is specifically limited.
In addition, the microfluidic chip may be referred to as DMF (digital microfluidics, microfluidic chip).
Optionally, fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an electrode in a microfluidic chip according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 2, where a plurality of second electrodes include: the device comprises a retention electrode 1041 and a spraying electrode 1042, wherein the retention electrode 1041 is an electrode close to a first moving area, the spraying electrode 1042 is an electrode far away from the first moving area, and a spraying neck is arranged on one side of the spraying electrode 1042 facing the retention electrode 1041.
Among them, the retention electrode 1041 is used for retaining the mother liquid droplet, and the ejection electrode 1042 is used for causing the mother liquid droplet to be ejected through the ejection neck and accommodating the formed satellite droplet.
In the related art, since the electrodes have overlapping portions, the ejected satellite droplets may exist in overlapping gaps, and a fluorescent material is usually added into the mother droplet, and the ejected satellite droplets also contain the fluorescent material, so that the volumes of all satellite droplets are calculated by easily identifying the satellite droplets existing in the gaps through the fluorescent material, and the fluorescent material may affect the microfluid, thereby affecting the biochemical experiment. In this embodiment of the application, be provided with the injection neck on the injection electrode towards one side of location electrode, the injection electrode does not have overlap area with the location electrode, the injection electrode is the electrode that is used for holding satellite liquid drop, in the in-process of spraying, the injection voltage drive of whole accommodation area makes satellite liquid drop disperse in accommodation area, even make the satellite liquid drop after spraying can hold on the injection electrode, and be difficult for falling between the electrode, be favorable to the calculation of satellite liquid drop volume, for example can adopt image processing's mode to calculate satellite liquid drop's volume, make satellite liquid drop's volume calculation more nimble, accurate.
In some embodiments, the mother liquid droplets may be located on a preset first electrode of the plurality of first electrodes, and by applying a first driving voltage to a portion of the first electrodes in the first movement region, the mother liquid droplets are driven to move from the preset first electrode to the retaining electrode 1041, and simultaneously applying a second driving voltage to the retaining electrode 1041 and the ejecting electrode 1042, the mother liquid droplets covered on the ejecting neck are locally vibrated and a plurality of satellite liquid droplets are ejected to fall on the ejecting electrode 1042 until the second driving voltage is stopped.
In addition, the second driving voltage is greater than the first driving voltage.
In the embodiment of the present application, when the first driving voltage is applied to a mother liquid droplet on the surface of the hydrophobic dielectric layer 105, the surface tension of the solid-liquid-gas three-phase contact line changes, and the contact angle of the mother liquid droplet decreases to generate a wetting phenomenon, so that the mother liquid droplet can be driven to move; when a second drive voltage is applied, which is greater than the ejection threshold voltage, the contact line vibrates and ejects many satellite droplets, a phenomenon called satellite droplet ejection.
In summary, an embodiment of the present invention provides a microfluidic chip, including: the device comprises a top substrate and a bottom substrate, wherein the top substrate and the bottom substrate are oppositely arranged to form a cavity, a conducting layer is arranged on the bottom surface of the top substrate, an electrode layer formed by a plurality of electrodes which are sequentially arranged is arranged on the top surface of the bottom substrate, and a dielectric layer surrounding the plurality of electrodes is also arranged on the electrode layer; wherein the plurality of electrodes comprises: a plurality of first electrodes of the first moving region, and a plurality of second electrodes of the ejection region communicating with the first moving region; the first electrodes are used for driving the mother liquid drops to move to the spraying area, and the second electrodes are used for controlling the mother liquid drops to spray in the spraying area; the plurality of second electrodes includes: the device comprises a retention electrode and a spray electrode, wherein the retention electrode is an electrode close to a first moving area, the spray electrode is an electrode far away from the first moving area, and a spray neck is arranged on one side of the spray electrode facing the retention electrode; the retention electrode is used for retaining the mother liquor drops, and the spraying electrode is used for enabling the mother liquor drops to be sprayed through the spraying neck and containing the formed satellite drops. The top substrate and the bottom substrate are oppositely arranged to form a cavity, a conductive layer is arranged on the bottom surface of the top substrate, an electrode layer is arranged on the top surface of the bottom substrate, and the liquid drops can be driven to move and spray by applying driving voltage to the electrodes, so that the convenience of micro-fluid distribution is improved, the electrode layer is formed by a plurality of electrodes which are sequentially arranged, and the micro-fluid chip also has the characteristic of simple structure; and the spraying neck is arranged on one side of the spraying electrode facing the retention electrode, and an overlapping area does not exist between the spraying neck and the retention electrode, so that satellite liquid drops are independently accommodated on the spraying electrode after spraying, and the calculation of the satellite liquid drop volume is facilitated.
It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the number of the plurality of first electrodes in the first moving area and the number of the plurality of second electrodes in the spraying area are not limited, and may be set according to actual requirements.
Optionally, the retaining electrode 1041 is a regular polygon, and the number of edges in the regular polygon is greater than or equal to a preset threshold.
In some embodiments, the preset threshold may be 6, an octagonal electrode, or a hexagonal electrode. Of course, this is merely an example, and the number of edges in the regular polygon may be set according to actual requirements, where the number of edges in the regular polygon is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.
As shown in fig. 2, the sustain electrode 1041 may be an octagonal electrode.
It should be noted that the edges of the octagonal and hexagonal liquid drops are more coincident with the edges of the circular liquid drops, so that the pollution of the electrode path caused by the ejection of the liquid drops at the four corners of the rectangle is avoided.
Optionally, the plurality of first electrodes are a plurality of electrodes of a predetermined geometry.
It should be noted that, the preset geometric shape may be a rectangle, a square, a zigzag shape with a zigzag edge, and a convex edge, which is not particularly limited in the embodiment of the present application. In the embodiment of the application, the first electrode is electrified with low voltage, and the second electrode is electrified with high voltage.
The first electrodes are square electrodes, the square electrodes can be identical in size, and gaps between two adjacent square electrodes can be identical.
Optionally, the arrangement gaps of the plurality of first electrodes are smaller than the arrangement gaps of the plurality of second electrodes.
Wherein, the arrangement gaps of the plurality of first electrodes are smaller than the arrangement gaps of the plurality of second electrodes, which can effectively avoid the breakdown phenomenon of the dielectric layer 105 possibly existing during high-voltage driving.
Optionally, the arrangement gaps of the plurality of first electrodes are any one of 10um to 30um, and the arrangement gaps of the plurality of second electrodes are any one of 40um to 100 um.
For example, the arrangement gap of the plurality of first electrodes may be 10um, and the arrangement gap of the plurality of second electrodes may be 50um.
In some embodiments, the size of the jetting electrode 1042 except the jetting neck portion may be 1mm (millimeters) by 1mm, the height of the jetting neck may be 100 μm and the width may be 125 μm. In addition, the gap between the sustain electrode 1041 and the ejection electrode 1042 may be 50 μm, and the breakdown phenomenon of the dielectric layer 105 which may exist at the time of high voltage driving may be effectively avoided.
Alternatively, each square electrode may be 1mm by 1mm in size, and the gap between two adjacent square electrodes may be 10 μm.
Optionally, the electrode layer is further provided with: and at least two fourth electrodes 106 which are arranged around the holding electrode and the ejection electrode and which are in the same plane as the plurality of electrodes 104.
Wherein the fourth electrode 106 is disposed around the sustain electrode and the ejection electrode and does not hinder movement, ejection, and pickup of the mother liquor droplets.
Fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an electrode in a microfluidic chip according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 3, a dielectric layer 105 is further provided with: and two adjacent fourth electrodes 106 which are arranged symmetrically on two sides of the spray neck and belong to the same plane with the plurality of electrodes 104.
As shown in fig. 3, two adjacent fourth electrodes are provided on both sides of the ejection neck and are located on one side (lower side in the drawing) of the plurality of electrodes 104 on the same plane as the plurality of electrodes 104; of course, two adjacent fourth electrodes are disposed on two sides of the spray neck, and may be located on the other side (upper side in the drawing) of the plurality of electrodes 104, and on the same plane as the plurality of electrodes 104, which is not particularly limited in the embodiment of the present application.
Optionally, SU8 square columns are also provided on both sides of the spray neck, which prevents the mother droplets from being driven onto the spray electrode during the spray process.
Because SU8 square columns are arranged on two sides of the spraying neck, mother liquid drops can not be controlled to directly move to the spraying electrode through the spraying neck to carry out eating back operation, and therefore the mother liquid drops can be controlled to be eaten back to satellite liquid drops on the spraying electrode through at least two fourth electrodes 106.
Optionally, the plurality of electrodes 104 further includes: a plurality of third electrodes of the second moving region, the plurality of third electrodes being sequentially arranged at positions close to the ejection electrodes; the third electrode is used for controlling the target liquid drop to pick up satellite liquid drop in the second moving area.
It should be noted that the plurality of third electrodes are disposed near the spray electrode, and the plurality of third electrodes may be disposed on the upper side, the lower side, or the left side (i.e., the side of the spray electrode away from the spray neck), which is not particularly limited in the embodiment of the present application.
The second moving area may be a pickup path, and the number of the plurality of third electrodes in the second moving area may be set according to actual requirements, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.
Optionally, fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of an electrode in a microfluidic chip according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 4, a plurality of third electrodes may be sequentially arranged on a side close to a spray electrode 1042 and far from a spray neck; the third electrode is used for controlling the target liquid drop to pick up satellite liquid drop in the second moving area.
In some embodiments, a third driving voltage is sequentially applied to a part of the third electrodes in the plurality of third electrodes in the second moving region, so that the target droplet is driven to move in the second moving region, and the satellite droplet on the jetting electrode 1042 is picked up by the moving jetting electrode 1042.
In this embodiment of the present application, the target droplet may be located on a preset third electrode of the plurality of third electrodes, and the preset third electrode may be any one of the plurality of third electrodes, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.
It should be noted that, after the driving target droplet picks up the satellite droplet on the ejecting electrode 1042, the target droplet may be controlled to move to the original preset third electrode, or may be controlled to move to another third electrode among the plurality of third electrodes, so as to re-eject the satellite droplet subsequently.
Optionally, the plurality of electrodes 104 further includes: and the fifth electrode of the liquid drop accommodating area is communicated with the first moving area so as to separate the liquid drop sample in the liquid drop accommodating area to generate liquid drops, or the liquid drop sample is adopted to eat back the liquid drops.
Alternatively, fig. 5a to 5d are schematic diagrams of a mother solution droplet generation according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 5a, a droplet sample is provided at a fifth electrode of the mother solution accommodating area, and a fourth driving voltage is applied to the fifth electrode, the fixed electrode 1041, and the first electrode in the first moving area, as shown in fig. 5b, so that the droplet sample is stretched to cover the fixed electrode 1041 and the first electrode in the first moving area; stopping the application of the fourth driving voltage to the first electrode adjacent to the sustain electrode 1041, as shown in fig. 5c, generating a mother liquid droplet at the sustain electrode 1041, and the remaining droplet sample moves toward the mother liquid receiving area, i.e., moves back; the application of the fourth drive voltage to the sustain electrode 1041, the first electrode in the first movement region, is stopped while the application of the fourth drive voltage to the fifth electrode is still maintained, as shown in fig. 5d, and the drip sample is reset to the fifth electrode. Thus, a droplet of mother liquid is formed that matches the size of the retaining electrode 1041.
In addition, after the ejection of the mother liquid droplet in the ejection area is completed by the plurality of second electrodes, the mother liquid droplet may be driven to retract the satellite liquid droplet to clear the satellite liquid droplet on the ejection electrode 1042 so as to re-eject.
In summary, the embodiment of the present invention provides a microfluidic chip, in which a top substrate 101 and a bottom substrate 102 are oppositely disposed to form a chamber, a conductive layer 103 is disposed on a bottom surface of the top substrate 101, an electrode layer is disposed on a top surface of the bottom substrate 102, and a driving voltage is applied to the electrode layer to drive droplets to move and eject, so that convenience of microfluidic distribution is improved, and the conductive layer 103 is formed by a plurality of electrodes 104 sequentially arranged. In addition, a spraying neck is disposed on the spraying electrode 1042 facing the retaining electrode 1041, there is no overlapping area between the spraying neck and the retaining electrode 1041, and after spraying, the satellite droplets are individually accommodated on the spraying electrode 1042, which is beneficial to calculating the satellite droplet volume.
Optionally, fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a microfluidic system according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 6, where the microfluidic system may include: a controller 201, a signal generator 202, a relay array 203, and the microfluidic chip 100 in any of the above embodiments;
wherein, the input end of the relay array 203 is connected with the output end of the signal generator 202, the plurality of output ends of the relay array 203 are respectively connected with the plurality of electrodes 104 in the micro-fluidic chip 100, and the controller 201 is connected with the control end of the relay array 203.
In some embodiments, the signal generator 202 may continuously generate and output a driving signal to the relay array 203, and the controller 201 may output a control command to the relay array 203, and control the on-off of the relay array 203 by the control command, so as to output the driving signal to a specific electrode.
It should be noted that the driving signal may include: a relatively low voltage TV (transportation voltage, transport voltage signal) signal for moving droplets, which is a sinusoidal signal with a peak voltage of 150V (volts) and a frequency of 2kHz (kilohertz); the relatively high voltage EV (injection voltage) signal for droplet Ejection is a spike signal with a peak 440V and a frequency of 800 Hz. The two signals are obtained by amplifying and deforming the sinusoidal and square wave small signals generated by the signal generator through a transformer respectively.
In the embodiment of the application, the first driving voltage, the third driving voltage and the fourth driving voltage are generated based on the TV signal; the second driving voltage is generated based on the EV signal.
In summary, the embodiment of the present invention provides a microfluidic system, which can output a control command to the relay array 203 through the controller 201, control the on-off of the relay array 203, output a driving signal to a specific electrode, apply a driving voltage to the specific electrode to drive the droplet to move and spray, and improve the convenience of microfluidic distribution, wherein the conductive layer 103 is formed by a plurality of electrodes 104 arranged in sequence.
The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention, but various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention by those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (9)

1. A microfluidic chip, comprising: the device comprises a top substrate and a bottom substrate, wherein the top substrate and the bottom substrate are oppositely arranged to form a cavity, a conducting layer is arranged on the bottom surface of the top substrate, an electrode layer formed by a plurality of electrodes which are sequentially arranged is arranged on the top surface of the bottom substrate, and a dielectric layer surrounding the plurality of electrodes is also arranged on the electrode layer;
wherein the plurality of electrodes comprises: a plurality of first electrodes of a first moving region, and a plurality of second electrodes of a jetting region communicating with the first moving region; the first electrodes are used for driving the mother liquid drops to move to the spraying area, and the second electrodes are used for controlling the mother liquid drops to spray in the spraying area;
the plurality of second electrodes includes: the device comprises a retention electrode and a spray electrode, wherein the retention electrode is an electrode close to the first moving area, the spray electrode is an electrode far away from the first moving area, and a spray neck is arranged on one side of the spray electrode, facing the retention electrode;
the retention electrode is used for retaining the mother liquor drops, and the spraying electrode is used for enabling the mother liquor drops to be sprayed through the spraying neck and accommodating formed satellite drops.
2. The microfluidic chip according to claim 1, wherein the retention electrode is a regular polygon, and the number of sides in the regular polygon is greater than or equal to a preset threshold.
3. The microfluidic chip according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of first electrodes are a plurality of electrodes of a predetermined geometry.
4. The microfluidic chip according to claim 1, wherein the arrangement gaps of the plurality of first electrodes are smaller than the arrangement gaps of the plurality of second electrodes.
5. The microfluidic chip according to claim 4, wherein the arrangement gaps of the plurality of first electrodes are any one of 10um to 30um, and the arrangement gaps of the plurality of second electrodes are any one of 40um to 100 um.
6. The microfluidic chip according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of electrodes further comprises: a plurality of third electrodes of the second moving region, the plurality of third electrodes being sequentially arranged at positions close to the ejection electrodes; the third electrode is used for controlling the target liquid drop to pick up the satellite liquid drop in the second moving area.
7. The microfluidic chip according to claim 1, wherein the electrode layer is further provided with: and at least two fourth electrodes which are arranged around the retention electrode and the ejection electrode and belong to the same plane with the plurality of electrodes.
8. The microfluidic chip according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of electrodes further comprises: and the fifth electrode of the liquid drop accommodating area is communicated with the first moving area so as to separate the liquid drop sample in the liquid drop accommodating area to generate the liquid drop, or the liquid drop sample is adopted to eat back the liquid drop.
9. A microfluidic system, comprising: the micro-fluidic chip of any one of the preceding claims 1-8, a controller, a signal generator, a relay array, wherein an input end of the relay array is connected with an output end of the signal generator, a plurality of output ends of the relay array are respectively connected with the plurality of electrodes in the micro-fluidic chip, and the controller is connected with a control end of the relay array.
CN202310171548.1A 2023-02-24 2023-02-24 Microfluidic chip and microfluidic system Pending CN116237097A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CN202310171548.1A CN116237097A (en) 2023-02-24 2023-02-24 Microfluidic chip and microfluidic system

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CN202310171548.1A CN116237097A (en) 2023-02-24 2023-02-24 Microfluidic chip and microfluidic system

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CN116237097A true CN116237097A (en) 2023-06-09

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Family Applications (1)

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