Liquid metal array based flow field programmable reconfigurable device

Abstract

The application relates to a liquid metal array-based flow field reconfigurable device in the field of flow field reconfiguration, which comprises an electrolyte working medium, a plurality of liquid metal droplets arranged in the electrolyte working medium in an array, a plurality of electrodes, which are averagely divided into multiple groups, a plurality of liquid metal droplets corresponding to the multiple groups of electrodes in a one-to-one manner, and a plurality of liquid metal droplet blocking structures, which are averagely divided into multiple groups, a plurality of liquid metal droplets corresponding to the multiple groups of liquid metal droplet blocking structures in a one-to-one manner, and a plurality of liquid metal droplet blocking structures in each group being distributed around the corresponding liquid metal droplet. The liquid metal array-based flow field reconfigurable device can realize flexible flow field generation and manipulation, and further realize multiple microfluidic device functions.

Description

Flow field coded and reconfigurable device based on liquid metal array Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of flow field reconfigurability, and in particular to a flow field coded and reconfigurable device based on a liquid metal array. Background Technology

[0002] Microfluidic devices are technologies for manipulating, processing, and analyzing fluids at the microliter, nanoliter, and smaller scales. Their core lies in the manipulation of the flow field, thereby enabling functions such as micropumps, microvalves, micromixers, microreactors, and particle transport. The flexible generation and control of the flow field is a crucial research area for achieving complex and diverse functions in microfluidic devices. In recent years, numerous flow field control strategies have emerged, such as electroosmotic flow actuation, magnetic rotor actuation, and artificial flagella-based actuation. However, these actuation methods still have several problems, such as complex fabrication processes, difficulty in generating high-velocity flow fields, and relatively high driving voltages. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In view of the problems existing in the background technology, this application provides a flow field coded and reconfigurable device based on liquid metal array, which can realize flexible and efficient flow field generation and manipulation, and further realize various microfluidic device functions.

[0004] According to one aspect of the present invention, a flow field coded and reconfigurable device based on a liquid metal array is provided, comprising: an electrolyte working fluid; a plurality of liquid metal droplets arranged in an array in the electrolyte working fluid; a plurality of electrodes, evenly divided into multiple groups, each group of electrodes corresponding to a plurality of liquid metal droplets, with multiple electrodes in each group distributed around the corresponding liquid metal droplet; and a plurality of liquid metal droplet blocking structures, evenly divided into multiple groups, each group of liquid metal droplet blocking structures corresponding to a plurality of liquid metal droplets, with several liquid metal droplet blocking structures in each group distributed around the corresponding liquid metal droplet.

[0005] In some embodiments of the present invention, the flow field encoding and reconfigurable device based on liquid metal array further includes: a second phase pseudo-transport fluid layer located on one side of the electrolyte working fluid, wherein the flow field encoding and reconfigurability of the second phase pseudo-transport fluid layer is achieved by the viscous shear force between the electrolyte working fluid and the second phase pseudo-transport fluid layer.

[0006] Preferably, the material of the second phase pseudo-transport fluid layer includes, but is not limited to, silicone oil, paraffin oil, etc.

[0007] In some embodiments of the present invention, the flow field coded and reconfigurable device based on liquid metal array further includes: second-phase pseudo-transport particles located within the electrolyte working fluid, wherein the transport of the second-phase pseudo-transport particles is achieved through the viscous pressure drop and viscous shear force of the electrolyte working fluid.

[0008] Preferably, the material of the second phase pseudo-transporting particles includes, but is not limited to, polystyrene microspheres, water-in-oil droplets, etc.

[0009] In some embodiments of the present invention, the electrode is controlled by timing potential logic.

[0010] In some embodiments of the present invention, the plurality of electrodes in each group are orthogonally or circumferentially arranged around the corresponding liquid metal droplets.

[0011] In some embodiments of the present invention, the cross-sectional shape of the liquid metal droplet blocking structure is circular, arc-shaped, or rectangular.

[0012] In some embodiments of the present invention, each liquid metal droplet has one or more liquid metal droplet blocking structures.

[0013] In some embodiments of the present invention, when each liquid metal droplet has two or more liquid metal droplet blocking structures, the plurality of liquid metal droplet blocking structures are distributed around the corresponding liquid metal droplet in an orthogonal or circumferential arrangement.

[0014] In some embodiments of the present invention, the electrolyte working medium is a sodium chloride solution, a potassium chloride solution, or a sodium hydroxide solution.

[0015] In some embodiments of the present invention, the electrode is made of one or more alloys of aluminum, copper, platinum, silver, titanium, and gold.

[0016] Compared with the prior art, the present invention achieves the following technical effects:

[0017] 1. This invention achieves the driving of liquid metal droplet arrays by encoding the potential distribution of the global electrolyte solution, thereby forming a rich, coded, and reconfigurable flow field.

[0018] 2. This invention uses continuous electrowetting to drive liquid metal droplets, which can achieve a flow rate of centimeters per second at a driving voltage of several volts, thereby achieving efficient flow field generation and manipulation. Attached Figure Description

[0019] Various other advantages and benefits will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the following detailed description of preferred embodiments. The accompanying drawings are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of this application. Furthermore, the same reference numerals denote the same parts throughout the drawings. In the drawings:

[0020] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the flow field coded and reconfigurable device based on liquid metal array of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 2 is an example diagram of the layout of the liquid metal droplet unit of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 3 is an example of flow field reconfigurability for a semi-enclosed liquid metal droplet unit layout scheme;

[0023] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of several transport methods for second-phase pseudo-transport substances that can be used in this invention.

[0024] The reference numerals in the attached figures represent the following: 1. Electrolyte working fluid; 2. Electrode; 3. Liquid metal droplet blocking structure; 4. Liquid metal droplet; 11. Second-phase pseudo-transport fluid layer; 12. Second-phase pseudo-transport particles. Detailed Implementation

[0025] It should be understood that the described embodiments are merely some, not all, of the embodiments in this application. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments in this application without inventive effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0026] In the following description, when referring to the accompanying drawings, the same numbers in different drawings denote the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The embodiments described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all embodiments consistent with this application. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatuses and methods consistent with some aspects of this application as detailed in the appended claims.

[0027] In the description of this application, it should be understood that the terms "first," "second," etc., are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in this application based on the specific circumstances. Furthermore, in the description of this application, unless otherwise stated, "multiple" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A existing alone, A and B existing simultaneously, or B existing alone. The character " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0028] Liquid metal is a metal that is liquid near room temperature. Common liquid metal elements include mercury and gallium. When a liquid metal droplet is in an electrolyte environment, an electric potential gradient forms on the surface of the droplet under an electric field. This causes the interfacial electric double layer to charge and discharge, thereby changing the surface charge density of the droplet. This results in a surface tension gradient on the droplet's surface, which in turn causes Marangoni convection at the interface, leading to the flow of the surrounding fluid.

[0029] The aforementioned liquid metal droplet driving method is called continuous electrowetting actuation. Compared with fluid actuation methods such as electroosmotic flow, magnetic rotor actuation, and artificial flagella-based actuation, continuous electrowetting actuation can achieve flow rates on the order of centimeters per second at driving voltages on the order of a few volts. Furthermore, the flow velocity and direction of the flow field induced by the liquid metal droplets can be changed by encoding the potential distribution in the electrolyte space.

[0030] In summary, continuous electrowetting actuation of liquid metal droplets is a promising method for flow field manipulation. Therefore, this application provides a flow field coded and reconfigurable device based on a liquid metal array. By independently driving the liquid metal droplet array, a complex coded and reconfigurable flow field is formed, enabling flexible flow field generation and manipulation, constructing an open microfluidic platform, and realizing complex and diverse functions.

[0031] As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the flow field coded and reconfigurable device based on liquid metal array includes an electrolyte working medium 1 and multiple liquid metal droplet units arranged in an array in the electrolyte working medium 1.

[0032] Each liquid metal droplet unit includes a liquid metal droplet 4, multiple electrodes 2, and several liquid metal droplet blocking structures 3, wherein the multiple electrodes 2 and several liquid metal droplet blocking structures 3 are distributed around the corresponding liquid metal droplet 4.

[0033] By using the flow field coded and reconfigurable device based on liquid metal array in this technical solution, each liquid metal droplet 4 is fixed in a certain area by several liquid metal droplet blocking structures 3. Each liquid metal droplet 4 is surrounded by multiple electrodes 2. Different potentials can be applied to each electrode 2 to form different potential distributions at the interface between the liquid metal droplet 4 and the electrolyte working medium 1, thereby guiding the liquid metal droplet 4 to form Marangoni convection of different degrees and directions. Furthermore, the electrolyte working medium 1 is made to flow through viscous shear force. The liquid metal droplets 4 and electrodes 2 are arranged in an array in a certain way. By encoding the potential of each electrode 2, the electrolyte working medium 1 has multiple forms of potential distribution, so that each liquid metal droplet 4 undergoes Marangoni convection, and the global electrolyte working medium 1 generates different forms of flow, thereby realizing flexible flow field generation and manipulation, and further realizing multiple microfluidic device functions.

[0034] In some embodiments of the present invention, each liquid metal droplet 4 has, but is not limited to, two or more electrodes 2.

[0035] Specifically, multiple electrodes 2 in each group are orthogonally or circularly arranged around the corresponding liquid metal droplet 4, as shown in Figure 1. Each liquid metal droplet 4 has four electrodes 2 arranged circumferentially around it. Preferably, the electrodes 2 can be arranged around each liquid metal droplet 4 according to the expected degrees of freedom of motion of the liquid metal droplet 4.

[0036] Specifically, each electrode 2 can be controlled by timing potential logic to encode and reconfigure the global electrolyte working fluid 1 flow field.

[0037] Specifically, the material of electrode 2 includes, but is not limited to, one or more alloys of aluminum, copper, platinum, silver, titanium, and gold.

[0038] In some embodiments of the present invention, each liquid metal droplet 4 has, but is not limited to, one or more, liquid metal droplet blocking structures 3.

[0039] It should be noted that the cross-sectional shape of the liquid metal droplet blocking structure 3 includes, but is not limited to, circular, arc-shaped, and rectangular shapes.

[0040] Specifically, when each liquid metal droplet 4 has two or more liquid metal droplet blocking structures 3, the multiple liquid metal droplet blocking structures 3 are distributed around the corresponding liquid metal droplet 4 in an orthogonal or circular arrangement, as shown in Figure 1, where the four electrodes 2 of each liquid metal droplet 4 are arranged circumferentially around it at equal intervals.

[0041] Preferably, liquid metal droplet blocking structures 3 can be arranged around each liquid metal droplet 4 according to the expected degrees of freedom of motion of the liquid metal droplets 4, as shown in Figure 2.

[0042] In Figure 2a, no liquid metal droplet blocking structure 3 is set around the liquid metal droplet 4.

[0043] In Figure 2b, a liquid metal droplet blocking structure 3 with a circular arc cross-section is arranged on the side of the liquid metal droplet 4 near the positive electrode.

[0044] In Figure 2c, a liquid metal droplet blocking structure 3 with a circular arc cross-section is arranged on both the positive electrode side and the negative electrode side of the liquid metal droplet 4.

[0045] In Figure 2d, a liquid metal droplet blocking structure 3 with an arc-shaped cross-section is arranged on the side of the liquid metal droplet 4 near the positive electrode and the side of the negative electrode. The spacing and size of the two liquid metal droplet blocking structures 3 are smaller than those in Figure 2c.

[0046] In Fig. 2e, four liquid metal droplet blocking structures 3 are arranged at equal intervals around the liquid metal droplet 4, and one pair of them is opposite to the positive electrode and the negative electrode.

[0047] In Fig. 2f, four liquid metal droplet blocking structures 3 are arranged at equal intervals around the liquid metal droplet 4, and the four liquid metal droplet blocking structures 3 are rotated 45° as a whole compared with Fig. 2e.

[0048] In Fig. 2g, the arrangement of the four liquid metal droplet blocking structures 3 around the liquid metal droplet 4 is the same as that in Fig. 2f, and the sizes of the four liquid metal droplet blocking structures 3 are larger than those in Fig. 2f.

[0049] In Fig. 2h, a semi-circular liquid metal droplet blocking structure 3 is arranged at the bottom of the liquid metal droplet 4.

[0050] Under the potential settings shown in each of Figs. 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e, 2f, 2g, and 2h in Fig. 2, each liquid metal droplet 4 has a tendency to move towards the positive electrode, and the simulation results of the flow fields shown in each figure are formed.

[0051] In some embodiments of the present invention, the electrolyte working fluid 1 includes but is not limited to sodium chloride solution, potassium chloride solution, sodium hydroxide solution, etc.

[0052] Next, the flow field encodable and reconfigurable device based on the liquid metal array will be further described with specific embodiments.

[0053] Embodiment 1

[0054] As shown in Fig. 3, a channel with a "field" shape is designed as the driving object. During use, the electrolyte working fluid 1 is placed in each channel of the driving object, and four liquid metal droplets 4 are respectively placed in the four horizontal channels at the lower side of the driving object. Under the layout of the semi-circular liquid metal droplet blocking structure 3 for the liquid metal droplet 4 in Fig. 2h of Fig. 2, the flow region of the global electrolyte working fluid 1 is a rectangular grid-shaped straight channel. When each liquid metal droplet 4 is driven by a pair of electrodes 2, from the simulation results of several typical flow fields, it can be seen that the flow field encodable and reconfigurable device based on the liquid metal array can achieve various flow forms such as "square", "day", "field", etc., and the flow directions on each branch can be switched.

[0055] Embodiment 2

[0056] As shown in Fig. 4a, a second-phase pseudo-transport fluid layer 11 is added above the electrolyte working fluid 1, and the flow field encoding and reconfiguration of the second-phase pseudo-transport fluid layer 11 are realized through the viscous shear force between layers, so as to realize directional biochemical reactions or material mixing.

[0057] It should be noted that the materials of the second phase pseudo-transport fluid layer 11 include, but are not limited to, silicone oil, paraffin oil, etc.

[0058] Example 3

[0059] As shown in Figure 4b, a second-phase pseudo-transport particles 12 are added to the electrolyte working medium 1. The second-phase pseudo-transport particles 12 are transported by the viscous pressure drop and viscous shear force of the electrolyte working medium 1, thereby realizing a variety of microfluidic functions such as particle transport, assembly, and cell transport.

[0060] It should be noted that the materials of the second phase pseudo-transport particles 12 include, but are not limited to, polystyrene microspheres, water-in-oil droplets, etc.

[0061] The above description is merely a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the present invention should be included within the scope of protection of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A flow field coded and reconfigurable device based on a liquid metal array, characterized in that, include: Electrolyte working fluid; multiple liquid metal droplets arranged in an array within the electrolyte working fluid; Multiple electrodes are divided into multiple groups, each group corresponding to a specific liquid metal droplet. The electrodes in each group are arranged orthogonally or in a circular pattern around the corresponding liquid metal droplet. Multiple liquid metal droplet blocking structures are also divided into multiple groups, each group corresponding to a specific liquid metal droplet. Several blocking structures in each group are distributed around the corresponding liquid metal droplet. The electrodes are controlled by a time-sequential potential logic, allowing different potentials to be applied to each electrode to create different potential distributions at the interface between the liquid metal droplet and the electrolyte. This guides the liquid metal droplets to form Marangoni convection of varying degrees and directions, resulting in different forms of flow in the overall electrolyte.

2. The flow field coded and reconfigurable device based on a liquid metal array according to claim 1, characterized in that, Also includes: The second-phase pseudo-transport fluid layer is located on one side of the electrolyte working medium. The flow field of the second-phase pseudo-transport fluid layer can be encoded and reconfigured through the viscous shear force between the electrolyte working medium and the second-phase pseudo-transport fluid layer.

3. The flow field coded and reconfigurable device based on a liquid metal array according to claim 1, characterized in that, Also includes: The second-phase pseudo-transporting particles are located within the electrolyte working medium, and their transport is achieved through the viscous pressure drop and viscous shear force of the electrolyte working medium.

4. The flow field coded and reconfigurable device based on a liquid metal array according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, The cross-sectional shape of the liquid metal droplet blocking structure is circular, arc-shaped, or rectangular.

5. The flow field coded and reconfigurable device based on a liquid metal array according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, Each liquid metal droplet has one or more liquid metal droplet blocking structures.

6. The flow field coded and reconfigurable device based on a liquid metal array according to claim 5, characterized in that, When each liquid metal droplet has two or more liquid metal droplet blocking structures, the multiple liquid metal droplet blocking structures are distributed around the corresponding liquid metal droplet in an orthogonal or circular arrangement.

7. The flow field coded and reconfigurable device based on a liquid metal array according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, The electrolyte working medium is a sodium chloride solution, a potassium chloride solution, or a sodium hydroxide solution.

8. The flow field coded and reconfigurable device based on a liquid metal array according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, The electrode is made of one or more alloys of aluminum, copper, platinum, silver, titanium, and gold.

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