In this work, we proposed a novel design of microfluidic mixer utilizing the amplified Marangoni chaotic advection induced by AC continuous electrowetting of a metal droplet situated in electrolyte solution, due to the linear and quadratic voltage-dependence of flow velocity at small or large voltages, respectively. Unlike previous researchers exploiting the unidirectional surface stress with D...

A study of Marangoni-driven local continuous film drainage between two drops induced by an initially nonuniform interfacial distribution of insoluble surfactant is reported. Using the lubrication approximation, a coupled system of fourth-order nonlinear partial differential equations was derived to describe the spatio-temporal evolution of the continuous film thickness and surfactant interfacia...

This paper describes how Marangoni flows of various forms can be generated in thin liquid films for the purposes of microfluidic manipulation. Several microfluidic components, including traps, channels, filters and pumps, for manipulating aqueous droplets suspended in a film of oil on blank, unpatterned substrates are demonstrated. These are ‘virtual’ devices because they have no physical struc...

We consider a bistable reaction-diffusion system on the interface of deep fluid interacting with Marangoni flow. The method of matched asymptotic expansions is used to resolve the singularity at a sharp interface between the alternative states, and to compute the self-induced flow velocity advecting the domain boundary. It is shown that Marangoni flow serves as an efficient mechanism preventing...

The discovery of chemical reaction-driven tip-streaming (also known as “an amazing drop”) was made about a decade ago during measurements of the dynamic interfacial tension of a water-alkali pendant droplet immersed in oil-linoleic acid. A plausible explanation for this self-sustained ejection of micron sized droplets from the tip of the macroscopic pendant drop was offered at that time and att...

The stability of an evaporating thin liquid film on a solid substrate is investigated within lubrication theory. The heat flux due to evaporation induces thermal gradients; the generated Marangoni stresses are accounted for. Assuming the gas phase at rest, the dynamics of the vapour reduces to diffusion. The boundary condition at the interface couples transfer from the liquid to its vapour and ...