Optical Dielectrophoretic (DEP) Manipulation of Oil-Immersed Aqueous Droplets on a Plasmonic-Enhanced Photoconductive Surface

We present a plasmonic-enhanced dielectrophoretic (DEP) phenomenon to improve optical DEP performance of a floating electrode optoelectronic tweezers (FEOET) device, where aqueous droplets can be effectively manipulated on a light-patterned photoconductive surface immersed in an oil medium. To offer device simplicity and cost-effectiveness, recent studies have utilized a polymer-based photoconductive material such as titanium oxide phthalocyanine (TiOPc). However, the TiOPc has much poorer photoconductivity than that of semiconductors like amorphous silicon (a-Si), significantly limiting optical DEP applications. The study herein focuses on the FEOET device for which optical DEP performance can be greatly enhanced by utilizing plasmonic nanoparticles as light scattering elements to improve light absorption of the low-quality TiOPc. Numerical simulation studies of both plasmonic light scattering and electric field enhancement were conducted to verify wide-angle scattering light rays and an approximately twofold increase in electric field gradient with the presence of nanoparticles. Similarly, a spectrophotometric study conducted on the absorption spectrum of the TiOPc has shown light absorption improvement (nearly twofold) of the TiOPc layer. Additionally, droplet dynamics study experimentally demonstrated a light-actuated droplet speed of 1.90 mm/s, a more than 11-fold improvement due to plasmonic light scattering. This plasmonic-enhanced FEOET technology can considerably improve optical DEP capability even with poor-quality photoconductive materials, thus providing low-cost, easy-fabrication solutions for various droplet-based microfluidic applications.