Electrostatically excited liquid marble as a micromixer

Abstract

Liquid marble is a promising microfluidic platform for microreactor applications. However, the lack of contactless and on-demand mixing strategies significantly hinders its potential. This paper reports the use of electrostatic force as an actuation scheme to induce vibration and deformation in a liquid marble, thus enhancing the internal flow and promoting mixing in this platform. The effect of a uniform AC electric field on liquid marbles with different volumes was investigated. The results show significant improvement in mixing performance when the liquid marbles were actuated. Increasing electric field strengths also substantially enhances the mixing process. These results show the potential of using a liquid marble as a high-performance micromixer by exploiting the mechanisms of vibration and deformation.