2D large-scale EWOD devices with honeycomb electrodes for multiplexed multidirectional driving of micro-droplets

Chemical and biological applications could strongly benefit from large-scale droplet manipulation of electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD). However, the large number of driving electrodes of EWOD chips has been one of the most significant obstacles for these applications. This paper unveils a compact printed circuit board based EWOD chip with a hexagonal electrode array, which uses only seven signals to control an unlimited number of driving electrodes (169 in this paper). Simulation and experimental results illustrate the device’s ability to transport multiple droplets synchronously with a reconfigurable driving route and a velocity of up to 10.0 mm/s, which is beneficial for complex or high-throughput EWOD applications.