High-performance droplet transport is crucial for diverse applications including biomedical detection, chemical micro-reaction, and droplet microfluidics. Despite extensive progress, traditional passive and active strategies are restricted to limited liquid types, small droplet volume ranges, and poor biocompatibilities. Moreover, more challenges occur for biological fluids due to large viscosity and low surface tension. Here, a vibration-actuated omni-droplets rectifier (VAODR) consisting of slippery ratchet arrays fabricated by femtosecond laser and vibration platforms is reported. Through the relative competition between the asymmetric adhesive resistance originating from the lubricant meniscus on the VAODR and the periodic inertial driving force originating from isotropic vibration, the fast (up to ≈60 mm s-1 ), programmable, and robust transport of droplets is achieved for a large volume range (0.05-2000 µL, Vmax /Vmin ≈ 40 000) and in various transport modes including transport of liquid slugs in tubes, programmable and sequential transport, and bidirectional transport. This VAODR is general to a high diversity of biological and medical fluids, and thus can be used for biomedical detection including ABO blood-group tests and anticancer drugs screening. These strategies provide a complementary and promising platform for maneuvering omni-droplets that are fundamental to biomedical applications and other high-throughput omni-droplet operation fields.
Keywords: biomedical detection | biomedical devices; mechanical vibration; omni-droplets rectifiers; slippery ratchets.
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