Liquid marble based digital microfluidics: Fundamental physics and applications

Abstract

Liquid marbles are droplets with volume typically on the order of microliters coated with hydrophobic powder. The versatility, ease of use and low cost make liquid marbles an attractive platform for digital microfluidics. The talk reports our recent discoveries in the physics of liquid marbles that allow liquids to be manipulated as solids, as well as their robustness in terms of evaporation and structural deformation. The talk also presents applications such as large-scale three-dimensional cell culture, cryopreservation and polymerase chain reaction.