CN111545259B - Electrowetting panel and reaction device - Google Patents
Electrowetting panel and reaction device Download PDFInfo
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- CN111545259B CN111545259B CN202010348254.8A CN202010348254A CN111545259B CN 111545259 B CN111545259 B CN 111545259B CN 202010348254 A CN202010348254 A CN 202010348254A CN 111545259 B CN111545259 B CN 111545259B
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
- B01L—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL LABORATORY APPARATUS FOR GENERAL USE
- B01L3/00—Containers or dishes for laboratory use, e.g. laboratory glassware; Droppers
- B01L3/50—Containers for the purpose of retaining a material to be analysed, e.g. test tubes
- B01L3/502—Containers for the purpose of retaining a material to be analysed, e.g. test tubes with fluid transport, e.g. in multi-compartment structures
- B01L3/5027—Containers for the purpose of retaining a material to be analysed, e.g. test tubes with fluid transport, e.g. in multi-compartment structures by integrated microfluidic structures, i.e. dimensions of channels and chambers are such that surface tension forces are important, e.g. lab-on-a-chip
- B01L3/502769—Containers for the purpose of retaining a material to be analysed, e.g. test tubes with fluid transport, e.g. in multi-compartment structures by integrated microfluidic structures, i.e. dimensions of channels and chambers are such that surface tension forces are important, e.g. lab-on-a-chip characterised by multiphase flow arrangements
- B01L3/502784—Containers for the purpose of retaining a material to be analysed, e.g. test tubes with fluid transport, e.g. in multi-compartment structures by integrated microfluidic structures, i.e. dimensions of channels and chambers are such that surface tension forces are important, e.g. lab-on-a-chip characterised by multiphase flow arrangements specially adapted for droplet or plug flow, e.g. digital microfluidics
- B01L3/502792—Containers for the purpose of retaining a material to be analysed, e.g. test tubes with fluid transport, e.g. in multi-compartment structures by integrated microfluidic structures, i.e. dimensions of channels and chambers are such that surface tension forces are important, e.g. lab-on-a-chip characterised by multiphase flow arrangements specially adapted for droplet or plug flow, e.g. digital microfluidics for moving individual droplets on a plate, e.g. by locally altering surface tension
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
- B01L—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL LABORATORY APPARATUS FOR GENERAL USE
- B01L3/00—Containers or dishes for laboratory use, e.g. laboratory glassware; Droppers
- B01L3/50—Containers for the purpose of retaining a material to be analysed, e.g. test tubes
- B01L3/502—Containers for the purpose of retaining a material to be analysed, e.g. test tubes with fluid transport, e.g. in multi-compartment structures
- B01L3/5027—Containers for the purpose of retaining a material to be analysed, e.g. test tubes with fluid transport, e.g. in multi-compartment structures by integrated microfluidic structures, i.e. dimensions of channels and chambers are such that surface tension forces are important, e.g. lab-on-a-chip
- B01L3/50273—Containers for the purpose of retaining a material to be analysed, e.g. test tubes with fluid transport, e.g. in multi-compartment structures by integrated microfluidic structures, i.e. dimensions of channels and chambers are such that surface tension forces are important, e.g. lab-on-a-chip characterised by the means or forces applied to move the fluids
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
- B01L—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL LABORATORY APPARATUS FOR GENERAL USE
- B01L2400/00—Moving or stopping fluids
- B01L2400/04—Moving fluids with specific forces or mechanical means
- B01L2400/0403—Moving fluids with specific forces or mechanical means specific forces
- B01L2400/0415—Moving fluids with specific forces or mechanical means specific forces electrical forces, e.g. electrokinetic
- B01L2400/0427—Electrowetting
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Abstract
The invention relates to an electrowetting panel and a reaction device, wherein the electrowetting panel comprises an electrode layer and a plurality of electrodes, wherein the electrode layer comprises a plurality of electrodes which are arranged in rows and columns, and the plurality of electrodes comprise driving electrodes and at least one return-to-zero electrode; the insulating hydrophobic layer is positioned on one side of the electrode layer, which is far away from the substrate base plate, and is provided with a return-to-zero position which is arranged opposite to the return-to-zero electrode; and the driving circuit is used for providing electric signals to the plurality of electrodes according to a preset time sequence so as to sequentially and simultaneously apply voltages to at least two rows of adjacent electrodes in the row direction and/or the column direction, the liquid drop reaches a return-to-zero position through the action of the voltage difference between the adjacent electrodes, the return-to-zero position is determined as the initial position of the liquid drop, a first potential is applied to the edge electrode row of the at least two rows of electrodes to which the voltages are applied, a second potential is applied to the other electrode rows, and the first potential is different from the second potential. The invention can move the liquid drop titrated to any position to the zero position determined by the position, and is beneficial to the reactions of later gene detection and the like.
Description
Technical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of electrowetting, in particular to an electrowetting panel and a reaction device.
Background
Electrowetting (EW) is a technique in which a contact angle between a liquid droplet and an insulating substrate is changed by a driving voltage, and the liquid droplet is deformed or displaced. The electrowetting technology can be used for controlling the fluid, and the device has the characteristics of low power consumption and quick response, so that the device is widely applied to the fields of microfluidics and the like.
The electrowetting technology can be used for electrowetting panels (such as gene detection and the like), when the existing electrowetting panel is used, the droplet is usually titrated to the reaction position in a manual mode and is influenced by human factors, the precision of the operation mode is low, and particularly under the condition that the number of electrodes of the electrowetting panel is large, the position of the droplet titrated to the electrowetting panel is difficult to determine and is not beneficial to the gene detection and the like, so that the performance of the electrowetting panel is poor.
Therefore, a new electrowetting panel and a reaction device are needed.
Disclosure of Invention
The embodiment of the invention provides an electrowetting panel and a reaction device, wherein the electrowetting panel can move liquid drops titrated to any position to a zero position determined by the position, is beneficial to reactions such as later gene detection and the like, and can optimize the performance of the electrowetting panel.
In one aspect, an electrowetting panel is provided according to an embodiment of the invention, including: a substrate base plate; the electrode layer is positioned on one side of the substrate and comprises a plurality of electrodes arranged in rows and columns, and the plurality of electrodes comprise driving electrodes and at least one return-to-zero electrode; the insulating hydrophobic layer is positioned on one side of the electrode layer, which is far away from the substrate base plate, and is provided with a return-to-zero position which is arranged opposite to the return-to-zero electrode; a drive circuit that supplies electric signals to the plurality of electrodes according to a predetermined timing; wherein the driving circuit supplying the electric signals to the plurality of electrodes according to a predetermined timing includes: sequentially applying voltages to at least two rows of adjacent electrodes in the row direction and/or the column direction at the same time so as to enable the liquid drop to reach a return-to-zero position through the action of voltage difference between the adjacent electrodes, and determining the return-to-zero position as the initial position of the liquid drop; among the at least two rows of electrodes to which the voltage is applied, a first potential is applied to an edge electrode row, a second potential is applied to the other electrode rows, and the first potential and the second potential are different.
In another aspect, an electrowetting panel according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a substrate base; the electrode layer is positioned on one side of the substrate and comprises a plurality of electrodes arranged in rows and columns, and the plurality of electrodes comprise driving electrodes and at least one return-to-zero electrode; the insulating hydrophobic layer is positioned on one side of the electrode layer, which is far away from the substrate base plate, and is provided with a return-to-zero position which is arranged opposite to the return-to-zero electrode; a drive circuit that supplies electric signals to the plurality of electrodes according to a predetermined timing; wherein the driving circuit supplying the electric signals to the plurality of electrodes according to a predetermined timing includes: applying a first potential to the electrodes row by row in the row direction and/or the column direction, and applying a second potential to all the remaining electrodes when the first potential is applied to each row of electrodes, so that the liquid drop reaches a return-to-zero position through the action of a voltage difference between adjacent electrodes, and determining the return-to-zero position as the initial position of the liquid drop; wherein the first potential and the second potential are different.
Optionally, in the first direction, the plurality of electrodes are distributed in n rows, in the second direction, the plurality of electrodes are distributed in m rows, n >2 and m >2, one of the first direction and the second direction is a row direction and the other is a column direction, the number of the return-to-zero electrodes is one and the row direction and the column direction are both located in the outermost row, and the driving circuit is configured to drive the plurality of electrodes:
in the first direction, applying a first potential row by row from the nth row of electrodes far away from the return-to-zero electrode to the row where the return-to-zero electrode is located, and applying a second potential to the rest of all electrodes when the first potential is applied to each row of electrodes so as to enable the liquid drop to move to be aligned with the return-to-zero electrode in the second direction;
and further in the second direction, applying a first potential row by row from the m-th row of electrodes far away from the return-to-zero electrode to the row where the return-to-zero electrode is positioned, and applying a voltage of a second potential to the rest of all the electrodes when the first potential is applied to each row of electrodes so as to enable the liquid drop to reach a return-to-zero position.
Optionally, in the first direction, the plurality of electrodes are distributed in n rows, in the second direction, the plurality of electrodes are distributed in m rows, n >2 and m >2, one of the first direction and the second direction is a row direction and the other is a column direction, and the driving circuit is configured to drive the plurality of electrodes:
in the first direction, applying a first potential row by row from one of the 1 st row and the nth row of electrodes to the row where the return-to-zero electrode is located, and then applying the first potential row by row from the other of the 1 st row and the nth row of electrodes to the row where the return-to-zero electrode is located; and while the first potential is applied to each row of electrodes, applying a second potential to the remaining electrodes to move the droplets into alignment with the return-to-zero electrodes in a second direction;
further in the second direction, applying a first potential row by row from one of the 1 st row and the m-th row of electrodes to the row where the return-to-zero electrode is located, and then applying the first potential row by row from the other of the 1 st row and the m-th row of electrodes to the row where the return-to-zero electrode is located; and while the first potential is applied to each row of electrodes, applying a second potential to the remaining electrodes to bring the droplet to a return-to-zero position.
Optionally, in the first direction, the plurality of electrodes are distributed in n rows, in the second direction, the plurality of electrodes are distributed in m rows, n >2 and m >2, one of the first direction and the second direction is a row direction and the other is a column direction, the number of the return-to-zero electrodes is one and the row direction and the column direction are both located in the outermost row, and the driving circuit is configured to drive the plurality of electrodes;
in the first direction, applying a first potential row by row from the n-1 th row of electrodes far away from one side of the return-to-zero electrode to the row where the return-to-zero electrode is located, and applying a second potential to at least one row of electrodes which are arranged adjacent to the electrode applying the first potential in the first direction and far away from the return-to-zero electrode when each row of electrodes applies the first potential, so that the liquid drop moves to be aligned with the return-to-zero electrode in the second direction;
and further applying a first potential row by row from the m-1 row of electrodes far away from one side of the return-to-zero electrode to the row where the return-to-zero electrode is positioned in the second direction, and applying a second potential to at least one row of electrodes which are arranged adjacent to the electrode applying the first potential in the second direction and far away from the return-to-zero electrode when the first potential is applied to each row of electrodes so as to enable the liquid drop to reach a return-to-zero position.
Optionally, the drive circuit is configured to apply the second potential to the remaining electrodes while applying the first potential to each row of electrodes. Optionally, in the column direction, the electrodes at the starting position or the ending position in at least one row of electrodes are return-to-zero electrodes; and/or, in the row direction, the electrodes in the at least one row of electrodes at the starting position or the ending position are return-to-zero electrodes.
Optionally, the number of the return-to-zero electrodes is a, the number of the droplets is b, the driving circuit is further configured to move the b droplets titrated successively onto the insulating hydrophobic layer to the return-to-zero position one by one according to the titration order, and in the stacking direction, each droplet covers a different return-to-zero electrode, where a is greater than or equal to b is greater than or equal to 2.
Optionally, the a return-to-zero electrodes are arranged or spaced in the same direction, and the driving circuit is further configured to receive and move the former liquid drop to another return-to-zero position after the former liquid drop moves to one return-to-zero position.
Optionally, the first potential is greater than the second potential; and/or the drive circuit is further configured to control the droplet to move to the specified position according to the specified position of the droplet and the return-to-zero position according to the predetermined track.
Optionally, the drive circuit is further configured to apply a second potential to all electrodes after the droplet moves to the return-to-zero position; and/or the driving circuit comprises a first circuit module and a second circuit module, wherein the first circuit module is used for controlling the return-to-zero electrode, and the second circuit module is used for controlling the driving electrode.
In another aspect, a reaction device is provided according to an embodiment of the present invention, which includes the electrowetting panel.
According to the electrowetting panel and the reaction device provided by the embodiment of the invention, the electrowetting panel comprises a substrate, an electrode layer, an insulating hydrophobic layer and a driving circuit, wherein the electrode layer is positioned on one side of the substrate and comprises a plurality of electrodes, since the plurality of electrodes include the driving electrode and the at least one return-to-zero electrode, the plurality of electrodes are supplied with the electric signal according to a predetermined timing by the driving circuit, to simultaneously apply voltages to at least two rows of adjacent electrodes in a row direction and/or a column direction one after another, the liquid drop at any titration position reaches the zero position through the action of the voltage difference between the adjacent electrodes, the zero position is determined as the initial position of the liquid drop, because the return-to-zero position is a determined position point, the liquid drop can be accurately controlled to carry out the next reaction operation such as movement, mixing, separation and the like after being moved to the return-to-zero position, and the performance of the electrowetting panel is optimized.
Drawings
Features, advantages and technical effects of exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of an electrowetting panel according to a first embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along A-A of FIG. 1;
fig. 3 is an operational schematic diagram of an electrowetting panel of an embodiment of the invention;
fig. 4 is an operational schematic diagram of an electrowetting panel of an embodiment of the invention;
fig. 5 is another operational schematic diagram of an electrowetting panel of an embodiment of the invention;
fig. 6 is a schematic plan view of an electrowetting panel according to an embodiment of the invention;
fig. 7 is a schematic plan view of an electrowetting panel according to an embodiment of the invention;
fig. 8 is a schematic plan view of an electrowetting panel according to an embodiment of the invention;
fig. 9 is a schematic plan view of an electrowetting panel according to an embodiment of the invention;
fig. 10 is an operational schematic diagram of an electrowetting panel of an embodiment of the invention;
fig. 11 is a schematic plan view of an electrowetting panel according to an embodiment of the invention;
fig. 12 is an operational schematic diagram of an electrowetting panel of an embodiment of the invention;
fig. 13 is a schematic plan view of an electrowetting panel according to an embodiment of the invention.
Wherein:
100-electrowetting panel;
10-a substrate base plate; 20-an electrode layer; 21-a return-to-zero electrode; 22-a drive electrode; 20 a-electrode row;
30-an insulating hydrophobic layer; 31-return-to-zero position;
40-a drive circuit;
200-droplets;
the X-row direction; y-column direction.
In the drawings, like parts are provided with like reference numerals. The figures are not drawn to scale.
Detailed Description
Features and exemplary embodiments of various aspects of the present invention will be described in detail below, and in order to make objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. The following description of the embodiments is merely intended to provide a better understanding of the present invention by illustrating examples of the present invention.
It is noted that, herein, relational terms such as first and second, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. Also, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising … …" does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.
It will be understood that when a layer, region or layer is referred to as being "on" or "over" another layer, region or layer in describing the structure of the component, it can be directly on the other layer, region or layer or intervening layers or regions may also be present. Also, if the component is turned over, one layer or region may be "under" or "beneath" another layer or region.
For a better understanding of the present invention, an electrowetting panel and a reaction device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 1 to 13.
Referring to fig. 1 and fig. 2, an electrowetting panel 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a substrate 10, an electrode layer 20, an insulating hydrophobic layer 30, and a driving circuit 40, where the electrode layer 20 includes a plurality of electrodes arranged in rows and columns, and the plurality of electrodes includes a driving electrode 22 and at least one return-to-zero electrode 21. The insulating water-repellent layer 30 is located on a side of the electrode layer 20 remote from the substrate base plate 10, the insulating water-repellent layer 30 having a zeroing position 31 disposed opposite the zeroing electrode 21. The driving circuit 40 supplies the electric signals to the plurality of electrodes according to a predetermined timing, wherein the driving circuit 40 supplies the electric signals to the plurality of electrodes according to the predetermined timing includes: and sequentially applying voltages to at least two rows of adjacent electrodes in the row direction X and/or the column direction Y at the same time so as to enable the liquid drop 200 to reach the return-to-zero position 31 through the action of voltage differences between the adjacent electrodes, and determining the return-to-zero position 31 as the initial position of the liquid drop 200, wherein the edge electrode row in the at least two rows of electrodes applied with the voltages is applied with a first potential, the other electrode rows are applied with a second potential, and the first potential and the second potential are different.
The above-mentioned edge electrode row means an edge electrode row which is one of at least two rows of adjacently disposed electrodes to which a voltage is simultaneously applied, the one row closer to the return-to-zero electrode 21 than one row of electrodes is.
The electrowetting panel 100 provided by the embodiment of the invention applies voltages to the corresponding electrodes through the driving circuit 40, so that the voltages on the adjacent electrodes are different, an electric field is formed between the adjacent electrodes, and a pressure difference and an asymmetric deformation are generated inside the droplet 200, thereby realizing that the droplet 200 moves to the zeroing position 31 along a predetermined track above the insulating water-repellent layer 30. The moving direction of the droplet 200 can be changed according to the difference of the potentials of the corresponding electrodes, and finally the required position is reached. The substrate base plate 10 serves as a carrier of other film structures of the electrowetting panel 100, and is used for stacking other films on the substrate base plate 10 in sequence, and the insulating hydrophobic layer 30 plays an insulating role and is used for carrying the liquid drops 200.
The embodiment of the invention realizes the confirmation of the position of the liquid drop through the arrangement of the return-to-zero electrode 21 and the matched driving mode. In particular, as the electrowetting technology is developed, the density of the driving electrodes 22 is higher and higher, and the area of the driving electrodes 22 is smaller and smaller to achieve finer response, so that it is difficult to determine the specific position of the droplet by simple equipment when the droplet is dropped on the electrowetting panel 100. However, the electrowetting panel provided by the embodiment of the invention can accurately position the liquid drop, is convenient for subsequent reaction control, and does not need to increase positioning equipment.
As an alternative implementation manner, in the electrowetting panel 100 provided by the embodiment of the invention, in the column direction Y, the electrodes located at the start position or the end position in at least one row of electrodes are the return-to-zero electrodes 21. Of course, in some other examples, the electrowetting panel 100 has the electrodes in the row direction X located at the start position or the end position of the at least one row of electrodes as the return-to-zero electrodes 21. With the above arrangement, it is possible to further facilitate the drive circuit 40 to move the droplet 200 titrated to an arbitrary position to the return-to-zero position 31 by supplying the electric signals to the plurality of electrodes at a predetermined timing.
In some optional embodiments, the number of electrodes included in the electrode layer 20 provided in the embodiments of the present invention may be set according to the specification and the functional requirements of the electrowetting panel 100, and among the plurality of electrodes included in the electrode layer, the number of the zeroing electrodes 21 may be set according to the droplet 200 to be titrated by the electrowetting panel 100, and the number of the zeroing electrodes 21 may be one, or may be two or more.
In some alternative examples, the plurality of electrodes are distributed in n rows in the first direction, the plurality of electrodes are distributed in m rows in the second direction, n >2 and m >2, one of the first direction and the second direction is a row direction X and the other is a column direction Y, the number of the return-to-zero electrodes 21 is one and the row direction X and the column direction Y are both located in the outermost row, and the driving circuit 40 is configured to drive the plurality of electrodes:
in the first direction, a first potential is applied row by row starting from the (n-1) th row of electrodes on the side away from the return-to-zero electrode 21 until the row of return-to-zero electrodes 21, and while the first potential is applied to each row of electrodes, a second potential is applied to at least one row of electrodes that is disposed adjacent to the electrode to which the first potential is applied in the first direction and further away from the return-to-zero electrode 21, so that the droplet 200 moves to be aligned with the return-to-zero electrode 21 in the second direction.
Further in the second direction, the drive circuit 40 is configured to drive the plurality of electrodes to apply the first potential row by row starting from the m-1 th row of electrodes on the side away from the return-to-zero electrode 21 until the row where the return-to-zero electrode 21 is located, and to apply the second potential at least to a row of electrodes disposed adjacent to the electrode to which the first potential is applied and further away from the return-to-zero electrode 21 in the second direction while the first potential is applied to each row of electrodes, so that the droplet 200 reaches one return-to-zero position 31, wherein the entire row of electrodes to which the first potential is applied forms the edge electrode row 20 a.
Referring to fig. 1 to fig. 3 together, in order to more clearly understand the embodiment of the present invention, the operation principle of the electrowetting panel 100 is described below by taking an example that m is 6, that is, the electrowetting panel 100 has 6 rows of electrode rows 20a in the row direction X and the column direction Y, each row of electrode rows 20a includes 6 electrodes, 6 × 6(36) electrodes in total, the first direction is the row direction X of the electrowetting panel 100, the second direction is the column direction Y of the electrowetting panel 100, the return-to-zero electrode 21 is in the first row in the row direction X and in the first row in the column direction Y, that is, the coordinate point (1, 1) of the return-to-zero electrode 21, and the first potential is greater than the second potential, and optionally, the first potential is a positive potential while the second potential is a negative potential.
The droplet 200 may be titrated beforehand to any position of the insulating water-repellent layer 30 of the electrowetting panel 100, assuming that the droplet 200 is located in the 4 th row in the first direction and located in the 5 th row in the second direction, i.e. the coordinate point of the electrode corresponding to the droplet 200 is (4, 5), at this time, the driving circuit 40 is configured to drive the plurality of electrodes in the first direction, such as the row direction X:
starting with the 5 th row electrode on the side away from the return-to-zero electrode 21, a first potential is applied to the entire row of electrodes in the 5 th row (i.e., the n-1 th row), and when the first potential is applied to the 5 th row electrode, a second potential is applied to at least the 6 th row electrode that is disposed adjacent to the 5 th row electrode to which the first potential is applied and further away from the return-to-zero electrode 21 in the first direction, while the position of the droplet 200 remains unchanged.
Next, a first potential is applied to the entire row of electrodes in row 4 (i.e., row n-2), and while the first potential is applied to row 4, a second potential is applied to at least row 5 electrodes disposed adjacent to row 4 electrodes to which the first potential is applied and further away from the return-to-zero electrode 21 in the first direction, and the position of the droplet 200 remains unchanged.
Then, the first potential is applied to the entire row of electrodes in row 3 (i.e., row n-3), and when the first potential is applied to the row 3 electrode, the second potential is applied to at least the row 4 electrode which is disposed adjacent to the row 3 electrode to which the first potential is applied and further away from the return-to-zero electrode 21 in the first direction, and at this time, the droplet 200 moves to the left, and the coordinate point of the corresponding electrode becomes (3, 5).
Then, a first potential is applied to the electrodes in the entire row 2 (i.e., the (n-4) th row), and when the first potential is applied to the row 2 electrode, a second potential is applied to at least the row 3 electrode which is disposed adjacent to the row 2 electrode to which the first potential is applied in the first direction and is further away from the return-to-zero electrode 21, at this time, the droplet 200 continues to move leftward, the coordinate point of the corresponding electrode becomes (2, 5), and so on, and in the first direction, the first potential is applied to the row 1 electrode and the second potential is applied to at least the row 2 electrode, so that the droplet 200 moves to the position corresponding to the electrode whose coordinate point is (1, 5).
Further, in the same manner, the driving circuit 40 is further configured to drive the plurality of electrodes in a second direction, such as the column direction Y:
starting with the 5 th row electrode on the side away from the return-to-zero electrode 21, a first potential is applied to the entire row of electrodes in the 5 th row (i.e., row m-1), and when the first potential is applied to the 5 th row electrode, a second potential is applied to at least the 6 th row electrode that is disposed adjacent to the 5 th row electrode to which the first potential is applied and farther from the return-to-zero electrode 21 in the second direction, while the position of the droplet 200 is kept unchanged.
Next, a first potential is applied to the electrodes in the entire row 4 (i.e., row m-2), and when the first potential is applied to the row 4 electrode, a second potential is applied to at least the row 5 electrode which is disposed adjacent to the row 4 electrode to which the first potential is applied and further from the return-to-zero electrode 21 in the first direction, the droplet 200 moves upward near the return-to-zero electrode 21, and the coordinate point of the corresponding electrode becomes (1, 4).
Then, the first potential is applied to the entire row of electrodes in row 3 (i.e., row m-3), and when the first potential is applied to the row 3 electrode, the second potential is applied to at least the row 4 electrode which is disposed adjacent to the row 3 electrode to which the first potential is applied and further away from the return-to-zero electrode 21 in the second direction, and at this time, the droplet 200 moves to the left, and the coordinate point of the corresponding electrode becomes (1, 3).
And analogizing in turn until the liquid drop 200 moves to the position where the coordinate point corresponding to the return-to-zero electrode 21 is (1, 1), the requirement that the liquid drop 200 titrated to any position moves to the return-to-zero position 31 corresponding to the return-to-zero electrode 21 with a determined position can be met, so that the requirements of next step on reaction operations such as movement, mixing and separation of the liquid drop 200 can be accurately controlled.
In the above process, the electrode line 20a to which the first potential is applied in the first direction and the second direction is the edge electrode line.
It will be appreciated that the above embodiments are such that in the first direction the drive circuit is configured to apply the first potential row by row starting from the (n-1) th row of electrodes away from the side of the return to zero electrode 21 up to the row of the return to zero electrode 21 and to drive the plurality of electrodes in the second direction row by row starting from the (m-1) th row of electrodes away from the side of the return to zero electrode 21 up to the row of the return to zero electrode 21, and to apply the second potential to the remaining at least one row while the first potential is applied to each row of electrodes, so that the droplet 200 moves to the return to zero position 31. It is to be understood that this is an alternative embodiment and is not to be construed as limiting.
In some other embodiments, the present invention further provides an electrowetting panel 100, which is substantially the same as the above embodiments, except that the driving circuit 40 provides the electrical signals to the plurality of electrodes according to a predetermined timing; wherein the driving circuit 40 supplying the electric signals to the plurality of electrodes according to a predetermined timing includes: applying a first potential to the electrodes row by row in the row direction X and/or the column direction Y, and while applying the first potential to each row of electrodes, applying a second potential to all remaining electrodes to cause the droplet 200 to reach the return-to-zero position 31 by the action of the voltage difference between adjacent electrodes, and determining the return-to-zero position 31 as an initial position of the droplet 200; wherein the first potential and the second potential are different. With the above arrangement, the requirement that the droplet 200 is moved from an arbitrary position to the return-to-zero position 31 can be satisfied as well.
As an alternative embodiment, in the first direction, the plurality of electrodes are distributed in n rows, in the second direction, the plurality of electrodes are distributed in m rows, n >2 and m >2, one of the first direction and the second direction is a row direction X and the other is a column direction Y, the number of the return-to-zero electrodes 21 is one and the row direction X and the column direction Y are both located in the outermost row, and the driving circuit may be further configured to:
in the first direction, a first potential is applied row by row starting from the nth row of electrodes on the side away from the return to zero electrode 21 until the row of return to zero electrode 21 is located, and while the first potential is applied to each row of electrodes, a second potential is applied to all the remaining electrodes so that the droplet 200 moves to align with the return to zero electrode 21 in the second direction.
Further in the second direction, the driving circuit 40 is configured to drive the plurality of electrodes to apply the first potential row by row starting from the m-th row of electrodes on the side away from the return-to-zero electrode 21 until the row of the return-to-zero electrode 21 is located, and to apply the voltage of the second potential to all the remaining electrodes while applying the first potential to each row of electrodes, so that the droplet 200 reaches one return-to-zero position 31.
Referring to fig. 4, in order to more clearly understand the embodiment of the present invention, the electrowetting panel 100 has 6 rows of electrode rows 20a in the row direction X and the column direction Y, and each row of electrode rows 20a includes 6 electrodes, and there are 6 × 6(36) electrodes in total. Meanwhile, the first direction is a row direction X of the electrowetting panel 100, the second direction is a column direction Y of the electrowetting panel 100, the return-to-zero electrode 21 is arranged in a first row in the row direction X and a first row in the column direction Y, that is, a coordinate point of the return-to-zero electrode 21 is (1, 1), and the first potential is greater than the second potential, optionally, the first potential is a positive potential while the second potential is a negative potential, for example, the operation principle of the electrowetting panel 100 is explained.
The droplet 200 may be titrated beforehand to any position of the insulating water-repellent layer 30 of the electrowetting panel 100, assuming that the droplet 200 is located at the 4 th row in the first direction and the 5 th row in the second direction, i.e. the coordinate point of the electrode corresponding to the droplet 200 is (4, 5).
The driving circuit 40 is configured to drive the plurality of electrodes in a first direction, such as the row direction X, starting with the 6 th row electrode on the side away from the return-to-zero electrode 21, first apply a first potential to the entire row electrode of the 6 th row (i.e., the nth row), and apply a second potential to all the remaining electrodes, without changing the position of the droplet 200.
Then, the first potential is applied to the entire row of electrodes in row 5 (i.e., row n-1), and the second potential is applied to all the remaining electrodes, the droplet 200 moves rightward, and the coordinate point of the corresponding electrode becomes (5, 5).
Next, a first potential is applied to the entire row of electrodes in row 4 (i.e., row n-2), and a second potential is applied to all of the remaining electrodes, so that the droplet 200 moves to the left, and the coordinate point of the corresponding electrode returns to (4, 5).
Then, a first potential is applied to the whole row of electrodes in row 3 (i.e., row n-3), a second potential is applied to all the remaining electrodes, the droplet 200 will continue to move to the left, the coordinate point of the corresponding electrode becomes (3, 5), and by analogy, the droplet 200 will move the corresponding position of the electrode with the coordinate point of (1, 5).
Further, in the same manner, the driving circuit 40 is further configured to drive the plurality of electrodes in the second direction, such as the column direction Y, starting from the 6 th row of electrodes away from the return-to-zero electrode 21 side, first apply the first potential to the entire row of electrodes in the 6 th row (i.e., the m th row), apply the voltage of the second potential to all the remaining electrodes, and move the droplet 200 in the direction away from the return-to-zero electrode 21, i.e., downward, and the coordinate point of the corresponding electrode becomes (1, 6).
Then, the first potential is applied to the electrodes in the entire row 5 (i.e., row m-1), the second potential is applied to all the remaining electrodes, the droplet 200 moves in the direction close to the return-to-zero electrode 21, i.e., upward, and the coordinate point of the corresponding electrode becomes (1, 5).
Next, the first potential is applied to the electrodes in the entire row 4 (i.e., row m-2), and the second potential is applied to all the remaining electrodes, and the droplet 200 continues to move upward, and the coordinate point of the corresponding electrode becomes (1, 4).
Then, a first potential is applied to the electrodes in the entire row 3 (i.e., row m-3), a second potential is applied to all the remaining electrodes, the droplet 200 will continue to move to the left, the coordinate point of the corresponding electrode becomes (1, 3), and by analogy, the droplet 200 will move the position corresponding to the electrode with the coordinate point (1, 1), i.e., the return-to-zero position 31 corresponding to the return-to-zero electrode 21, and the return-to-zero position 31 is determined as the initial position of the droplet 200.
Because the return-to-zero position 31 is a determined position point, the liquid drop 200 can be moved to the return-to-zero position 31 to carry out accurate reaction operations such as movement, mixing and separation, the defects of low precision, inaccurate position of the liquid drop 200 and the like caused by artificial titration are effectively overcome, and simultaneously, additional configuration of titration equipment such as a mechanical arm and the like is not needed, so that the requirement for accurately controlling the reaction position of the liquid drop 200 can be met, the performance of the electrowetting panel 100 can be optimized, and the electrowetting panel 100 has better practicability as a whole.
It is understood that the electrowetting panel 100 provided in the above embodiments is exemplified by the electrowetting panel 100 having 6 rows of electrode rows 20a in the row direction X and the column direction Y, respectively, each row of electrode rows 20a includes 6 electrodes, which is an alternative embodiment, but not limited to the above, in some other embodiments, the number of electrode rows 20a included in the row direction X and the column direction Y may also be more than 6 rows, for example, may be 32 rows, correspondingly, the number of electrodes included in each row of electrode rows 20a may be 32, and the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to a specific number, as long as the performance requirements of the electrowetting panel 100 can be met.
Meanwhile, the first direction is not limited to the row direction X of the electrowetting panel 100, and the second direction is not limited to the column direction Y of the electrowetting panel 100, and in some other examples, the first direction may be the column direction Y of the electrowetting panel 100, and the second direction may be the row direction X of the electrowetting panel 100. Similarly, at this time, as shown in fig. 5, the driving circuit 40 may provide the electrical signals to the plurality of electrodes according to a predetermined timing, so as to sequentially apply voltages to at least two rows of adjacent electrodes in the column direction Y, so that the droplet 200 moves to be aligned with the return-to-zero electrode 21 in the row direction X, and then sequentially apply voltages to at least two rows of adjacent electrodes in the row direction, so that the droplet 200 moves to the return-to-zero electrode 21, which may also meet the performance requirement of the electrowetting panel 100.
In the above embodiments, when the number of the null electrodes 21 is one, the coordinate point of the null electrode 21 is (1, 1), that is, the null electrode 21 is located at the start position of the electrode row 20a in both the row direction X and the column direction Y, and is located at the upper left corner of the electrowetting panel 100. It is understood that this is an alternative embodiment, in some other embodiments, the return-to-zero electrode 21 is also located at the beginning position of the electrode row 20a in the row direction X and the column direction Y, and it may also be located at the upper right corner as shown in fig. 6, the lower left corner as shown in fig. 7 or the lower right corner as shown in fig. 8, and the driving circuit 40 can provide the electric signals to the plurality of electrodes according to a predetermined timing, so that the droplet 200 titrated to any unknown position moves to the return-to-zero position 31 corresponding to the return-to-zero electrode 21, and then the droplet 200 is precisely moved, mixed, separated, and the like.
Referring to fig. 9, it is understood that the above embodiments are illustrated by taking the example that the number of the return-to-zero electrodes 21 is one and the return-to-zero electrodes are located in the outermost row in the row direction X and the column direction Y, which is an alternative embodiment, but not limited to the above, in some other examples, as shown in fig. 9, the return-to-zero electrodes 21 may be located at any known position in the row direction X and the column direction Y, and at this time, the driving circuit 40 is configured to drive a plurality of electrodes:
in the first direction, a first potential is applied row by row from one of the 1 st row and the nth row of electrodes to the row where the return-to-zero electrode 21 is located, and then a first potential is applied row by row from the other of the 1 st row and the nth row of electrodes to the row where the return-to-zero electrode 21 is located. And while the first potential is applied to each row of electrodes, a second potential is applied to the remaining electrodes to move the droplet 200 into alignment with the return to zero electrode 21 in a second direction.
Further in the second direction, the driving circuit 40 is configured to drive the plurality of electrodes to apply the first potential row by row starting from one of the row 1 and the row m electrodes until the row of the return-to-zero electrode 21 is located, and then to apply the first potential row by row starting from the other of the row 1 and the row m electrodes until the row of the return-to-zero electrode 21 is located. And while the first potential is applied to each row of electrodes, a second potential is applied to the remaining electrodes to bring the droplet 200 to a return-to-zero position 31.
Referring to fig. 10 together, in order to more clearly understand the embodiment of the present invention, the operation principle of the electrowetting panel 100 will be described by taking an example of m ═ n ═ 6, that is, the electrowetting panel 100 has 6 rows of electrode rows 20a in the row direction X and the column direction Y, each row of electrode rows 20a includes 6 electrodes, and 6 × 6(36) electrodes in total, the first direction is the row direction X of the electrowetting panel 100, the second direction is the column direction Y of the electrowetting panel 100, and the return-to-zero electrode 21 is arranged in the fourth row in the row direction X and the second row in the column direction Y, that is, the coordinate point (4, 2) of the return-to-zero electrode 21.
The droplet 200 can also be titrated beforehand to any position of the insulating water-repellent layer 30 of the electrowetting panel 100, assuming that the droplet 200 is located at row 2 in the row direction X and row 5 in the column direction Y, i.e., the coordinate point of the electrode corresponding to the droplet 200 is (2, 5).
The drive circuit 40 is configured to drive the plurality of electrodes in a first direction, such as the row direction X:
starting with row 1 electrode, a first potential is applied to row 1 electrode, and a second potential is applied to the remaining electrodes, and the droplet 200 moves to the left away from the return-to-zero electrode 21, and the corresponding electrode coordinate point becomes (1, 5).
The first potential is then applied to row 2 electrodes and the second potential is applied to the remaining electrodes, at which time the droplet 200 moves to the right and the coordinate point of the corresponding electrode is restored (2, 5).
Further, the first potential is applied to the 3 rd row electrode and the second potential is applied to the remaining electrodes, the droplet 200 continues to move rightward and the coordinate point of the corresponding electrode becomes (3, 5).
The first potential is then applied to the row 4 electrode (i.e. the row of return to zero electrodes 21 in the first direction) and the second potential is applied to the remaining electrodes, the droplet 200 continues to move to the right and the coordinate point of the corresponding electrode becomes (4, 5), so that the droplet 200 moves to align with the return to zero position 31 in the second direction.
Similarly, the first potential is applied row by row from the 6 th (i.e., nth) row of electrodes to the row of return-to-zero electrodes 21 in the first direction, and the second potential is applied to the remaining electrodes while the first potential is applied to each row of electrodes, in such a manner that the driving circuit 40 can move the droplet 200 to align with the return-to-zero electrodes 21 in the second direction first no matter where the droplet is titrated to any position.
Further, the driving circuit 40 is further configured to drive the plurality of electrodes in a second direction, such as the column direction Y:
the position of the droplet 200 may be maintained by first applying a first potential to the row 1 electrode, starting with the row 1 electrode, and applying a second potential to the remaining electrodes.
The first potential is then applied to the second row of electrodes (i.e., the row of return-to-zero electrodes 21 in the second direction) and the second potential is applied to the remaining electrodes, leaving the position of the droplet 200 unchanged.
Similarly, the first potential is applied to the row from the 6 th row (i.e., the m-th row) of electrodes to the row where the return-to-zero electrode 21 is located in the second direction, and when the first potential is applied to each row of electrodes, the second potential is applied to the remaining electrodes, so that the droplet 200 moves to the position where the coordinate point of the corresponding electrode is (4, 6) first, and then moves to the position where the return-to-zero electrode 21 is located gradually from the position where the coordinate point is (4, 6) along the second direction and to the side close to the return-to-zero electrode 21.
In this example, the two-sided scanning is performed with the row of the return-to-zero electrodes 21 having the known position in the first direction and the second direction as the boundary point, so that the droplets 200 at any titration position are first positioned in the same row as the return-to-zero electrodes 21 in one of the first direction and the second direction, and then gradually moved to the position of the return-to-zero electrodes 21 in the other of the first direction and the second direction, and thus the requirement that the droplets 200 at unknown titration positions are first moved to the return-to-zero positions 31 corresponding to the return-to-zero electrodes 21 when the electrowetting panel 100 has the return-to-zero electrodes 21 having the known position can be satisfied.
Referring to FIG. 11, it is understood that the above embodiments of the present invention provide an electrowetting panel 100, which is illustrated by taking the number of the return-to-zero electrodes 21 as one example, which is an alternative embodiment, and in some other embodiments, the number of the return-to-zero electrodes 21 may be more than one, for example, the number of the return-to-zero electrodes 21 may be a, and the number of the droplets 200 may be b, where a ≧ b ≧ 2. At this time, the drive circuit 40 is also configured to move the b droplets 200 sequentially titrated onto the insulating water-repellent layer 30 to the return-to-zero position 31 one by one in the titration order, and each droplet 200 covers a different return-to-zero electrode 21 in the lamination direction of the substrate 10 and the electrode layer.
Optionally, the a return-to-zero electrodes 21 are arranged or spaced in the same direction, and the driving circuit 40 is further configured to receive and move the next droplet 200 to another return-to-zero position 31 after the previous droplet 200 moves to the one return-to-zero position 31. With the above arrangement, when the number of the droplets 200 is two or more, it is possible to avoid an influence on the droplet 200 that has moved to the return-to-zero position 31 when the next droplet is driven to move to the corresponding return-to-zero position 31.
Referring to fig. 12, in order to more clearly understand the embodiment of the present invention, the electrowetting panel 100 includes 6 × 6(36) electrodes in total, the number of the zeroing electrodes 21 is 3, the 3 zeroing electrodes 21 are sequentially arranged along the column direction Y, and the coordinate points of the 3 zeroing electrodes 21 are (1, 1), (1, 2), and (1, 3), respectively, for illustration.
First, the droplet 200a may be titrated, and assuming that the titration position of the droplet 200a corresponds to the coordinates of the electrodes (4, 5), the driving circuit 40 may provide the electric signals to the plurality of electrodes according to the predetermined timing provided in the above embodiments, move the electrodes to the position corresponding to the electrode having the coordinate point (1, 5), and then move the electrodes to the return-to-zero position 31 corresponding to the return-to-zero electrode 21 having the coordinate point (1, 1).
Then, the droplet 200b is titrated, and assuming that the coordinates of the electrodes corresponding to the titration position of the droplet 200b are (2, 4), the driving circuit 40 may also provide the electric signals to the plurality of electrodes according to the predetermined timing provided above, and first move the droplet 200b to the position corresponding to the electrode having the coordinate point of (1, 4), and then move to the return-to-zero position 31 corresponding to the return-to-zero electrode 21 having the coordinate point of (1, 2).
Next, the droplet 200c is titrated, and assuming that the titration position of the droplet 200c corresponds to the electrode with the coordinates (3, 6), the droplet is moved to the position corresponding to the electrode with the coordinate point (1, 6), and then moved to the zeroing position 31 corresponding to the zeroing electrode 21 with the coordinate point (1, 3).
With the above arrangement, the plurality of droplets 200 can be moved to the return-to-zero positions 31 corresponding to the different return-to-zero electrodes 21, respectively, and since the positions of the return-to-zero electrodes 21 are known, the next reaction of the plurality of droplets 200 can be completed after each droplet 200 is titrated and moved to the corresponding return-to-zero position 31, and for example, reaction operations such as mixing and separation can be performed by sequentially moving three droplets to predetermined positions in the order of the droplet 200c, the droplet 200b, and the droplet 200 a.
It will be appreciated that the number of return-to-zero electrodes 21 is three but an alternative embodiment and may be two. Of course, referring to fig. 13, for example, the electrodes included in each row of electrode rows 20a located outermost in the row direction X may all be the return-to-zero electrodes 21, and the electrodes included in each row of electrode rows 20a located outermost in the column direction Y may all be the return-to-zero electrodes 21, as long as the requirement that more than one droplet 200 at any titration position is provided with an electric signal to a plurality of electrodes according to a predetermined timing by the driving circuit 40 so that the droplet 200 moves to the return-to-zero position 31 corresponding to the return-to-zero electrode 21 at a known position respectively can be satisfied.
It is understood that the above embodiments are exemplified by the first potential being a positive potential and the second potential being a negative potential, which is an alternative embodiment, but not limited to this, as long as a potential difference can be generated between adjacent electrodes and the potential difference can satisfy the requirement of moving the droplet 200 from the low potential to the high potential.
As an alternative implementation manner, in the electrowetting panel 100 provided in the above embodiments, after each droplet 200 moves to the return-to-zero position 31, the driving circuit 40 is further configured to control the droplet 200 to move to the designated position according to the designated position of the droplet 200 and the return-to-zero position 31. Since the return-to-zero position 31 of each droplet 200 is a known position corresponding to the return-to-zero electrode 21, the droplet 200 can be precisely controlled to move the droplet 200 to a specified position, so as to better ensure the response requirement of the droplet 200.
As an alternative implementation manner, in the electrowetting panel 100 provided in the above embodiments, the driving circuit 40 is further configured to apply the second potential to all the electrodes after the liquid drop 200 moves to the return-to-zero position 31, so as to eliminate the potential difference existing between the electrodes.
In some alternative embodiments, the driving circuit 40 of the electrowetting panel 100 provided in the above embodiments may control all the electrodes through the same circuit module, that is, the driving electrode 22 and the return-to-zero electrode 21 are simultaneously controlled through the same circuit module, which is an alternative implementation, and in some other examples, the driving circuit 40 may also include a first circuit module and a second circuit module, where the first circuit module is used for controlling the return-to-zero electrode 21, and the second circuit module is used for controlling the driving electrode 22. As long as the requirement of driving the droplet 200 from any position to the corresponding return-to-zero position 31 can be satisfied.
Therefore, the electrowetting panel 100 provided by the embodiment of the invention includes the substrate 10, the electrode layer 20, the insulating water-repellent layer 30 and the driving circuit 40, and the electrode layer 20 is defined to be located on one side of the substrate 10 and includes a plurality of electrodes, because the plurality of electrodes include the driving electrode 22 and the at least one return-to-zero electrode 21, the driving circuit 40 provides the plurality of electrodes with an electric signal according to a predetermined timing sequence to sequentially apply a voltage to at least two rows of adjacent electrodes in the row direction X and/or the column direction Y, so that the liquid drop 200 at any titration position reaches the return-to-zero position 31 through the effect of a voltage difference between the adjacent electrodes, the return-to-zero position 31 is determined as an initial position of the liquid drop 200, and after the liquid drop 200 is moved to the return-to-zero position 31, the liquid drop 200 at a known position is accurately moved to a specified position and is moved next step, Mixing, separating, etc., reaction operations can optimize the performance of the electrowetting panel 100.
Further, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a reaction apparatus, which includes the electrowetting panel 100, and the reaction apparatus may further include an analysis region, a waste liquid pool, and the like. Since the reaction device includes the electrowetting panel 100 of each embodiment, the liquid drop 200 can be accurately moved to a specific position, thereby ensuring the experimental effect.
While the invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment, various modifications may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In particular, the technical features mentioned in the embodiments can be combined in any way as long as there is no structural conflict. It is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.
Claims (11)
1. An electrowetting panel, comprising:
a substrate base plate;
the electrode layer is positioned on one side of the substrate and comprises a plurality of electrodes arranged in rows and columns, and the plurality of electrodes comprise driving electrodes and at least one return-to-zero electrode;
the insulating hydrophobic layer is positioned on one side of the electrode layer, which is far away from the substrate base plate, and is provided with a return-to-zero position which is arranged opposite to the return-to-zero electrode;
a drive circuit that supplies electric signals to the plurality of electrodes according to a predetermined timing; wherein the driving circuit supplying the electric signals to the plurality of electrodes according to a predetermined timing includes: sequentially applying voltages to at least two rows of adjacent electrodes in the row direction and/or the column direction at the same time, so that the liquid drop reaches the zero position through the action of the voltage difference between the adjacent electrodes, and determining the zero position as the initial position of the liquid drop; wherein the content of the first and second substances,
the edge electrode row of the at least two rows of the electrodes to which the voltage is applied with a first potential, and the other electrode rows are applied with a second potential, and the first potential and the second potential are different.
2. The electrowetting panel according to claim 1, wherein in a first direction, the plurality of electrodes are distributed in n rows, in a second direction, the plurality of electrodes are distributed in m rows, n >2 and m >2, one of the first direction and the second direction is the row direction and the other is the column direction, the number of the return-to-zero electrodes is one and is located in an outermost row in both the row direction and the column direction, the driving circuit is configured to drive the plurality of electrodes;
applying the first potential row by row starting from the (n-1) th row of the electrodes on the side away from the return to zero electrode in the first direction until the row of the return to zero electrode is located, and applying the second potential to at least one row of the electrodes disposed adjacent to the electrode applying the first potential in the first direction and further away from the return to zero electrode while the first potential is applied to each row of the electrodes, so as to move the droplet into alignment with the return to zero electrode in the second direction;
further in the second direction, applying the first potential row by row starting from the m-1 th row of the electrodes far from the side of the return-to-zero electrode until the row of the return-to-zero electrode is located, and applying the second potential to at least one row of the electrodes which is disposed adjacent to the electrode applying the first potential in the second direction and far from the return-to-zero electrode when the first potential is applied to each row of the electrodes, so that the droplet reaches one of the return-to-zero positions.
3. An electrowetting panel, comprising:
a substrate base plate;
the electrode layer is positioned on one side of the substrate and comprises a plurality of electrodes arranged in rows and columns, and the plurality of electrodes comprise driving electrodes and at least one return-to-zero electrode;
the insulating hydrophobic layer is positioned on one side of the electrode layer, which is far away from the substrate base plate, and is provided with a return-to-zero position which is arranged opposite to the return-to-zero electrode;
a drive circuit that supplies electric signals to the plurality of electrodes according to a predetermined timing; wherein the driving circuit supplying the electric signals to the plurality of electrodes according to a predetermined timing includes: applying a first potential to the electrodes row by row in a row direction and/or a column direction, and applying a second potential to all remaining electrodes while applying the first potential to the electrodes in each row to cause the droplet to reach the return-to-zero position by a voltage difference between adjacent electrodes, and determining the return-to-zero position as an initial position of the droplet; wherein the first potential and the second potential are different.
4. The electrowetting panel according to claim 3, wherein in a first direction, the plurality of electrodes are distributed in n rows, in a second direction, the plurality of electrodes are distributed in m rows, n >2 and m >2, one of the first direction and the second direction is the row direction and the other is the column direction, the number of the return-to-zero electrodes is one and is located in an outermost row in both the row direction and the column direction, the driving circuit is configured to drive the plurality of electrodes:
applying the first potential row by row starting from the nth row of the electrodes on the side away from the return to zero electrode in the first direction until the row of the return to zero electrode is located, and applying the second potential to all remaining electrodes while the first potential is applied to each row of the electrodes to move the droplet into alignment with the return to zero electrode in the second direction;
further in the second direction, the first potential is applied row by row from the m-th row of the electrodes far away from the return-to-zero electrode to the row of the return-to-zero electrode, and when the first potential is applied to each row of the electrodes, the voltage of the second potential is applied to all the remaining electrodes, so that the liquid drop reaches one return-to-zero position.
5. An electrowetting panel according to claim 3, wherein in a first direction a plurality of said electrodes are distributed in n rows, in a second direction a plurality of said electrodes are distributed in m rows, n >2 and m >2, one of said first direction and said second direction being said row direction and the other being said column direction, said driving circuit being configured to drive said plurality of electrodes:
in the first direction, the first potential is applied row by row from one of the 1 st row and the nth row of the electrodes until the row where the return-to-zero electrode is located, and then the first potential is applied row by row from the other of the 1 st row and the nth row of the electrodes until the row where the return-to-zero electrode is located; and while the first potential is applied to each row of the electrodes, applying the second potential to the remaining electrodes to move the droplet into alignment with the return-to-zero electrode in the second direction;
further in the second direction, applying the first potential row by row starting from one of the 1 st and m-th rows of the electrodes until the row of the return-to-zero electrode is located, and then applying the first potential row by row starting from the other of the 1 st and m-th rows of the electrodes until the row of the return-to-zero electrode is located; and applying the second potential to the remaining electrodes while the first potential is applied to each row of the electrodes to bring the droplet to one of the return-to-zero positions.
6. An electrowetting panel according to claim 1 or 3, wherein, in the column direction, the electrodes of at least one row of the electrodes located at a starting position or an ending position are the return-to-zero electrodes;
and/or, in the row direction, the electrode in the starting position or the ending position in at least one row of the electrodes is the return-to-zero electrode.
7. The electrowetting panel according to claim 6, wherein the number of the return-to-zero electrodes is a, the number of the droplets is b, the driving circuit is further configured to move the b droplets titrated successively onto the insulating hydrophobic layer one by one to the return-to-zero position in a titration order, each of the droplets covering a different return-to-zero electrode in a lamination direction, wherein a ≧ b ≧ 2.
8. An electrowetting panel according to claim 7, wherein a said return-to-zero electrodes are arranged or spaced one after the other in the same direction, said drive circuit being further configured to receive and move a subsequent said droplet to another said return-to-zero position after a previous said droplet has moved to one said return-to-zero position.
9. An electrowetting panel according to claim 1 or 3, wherein said first potential is greater than said second potential;
and/or the drive circuit is further configured to control the liquid drop to move to the designated position according to a predetermined track according to the designated position of the liquid drop and the zero position.
10. The electrowetting panel according to claim 1 or 3, wherein said drive circuit is further configured to apply said second potential to all of said electrodes after said droplet has moved to said reset position;
and/or the driving circuit comprises a first circuit module and a second circuit module, wherein the first circuit module is used for controlling the return-to-zero electrode, and the second circuit module is used for controlling the driving electrode.
11. A reaction device comprising an electrowetting panel as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10.
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| KR20110019613A (en) * | 2009-08-20 | 2011-02-28 | 고려대학교 산학협력단 | Electrowetting device for improving electrowetting efficiency |
| CN109894169A (en) * | 2019-03-26 | 2019-06-18 | 上海天马微电子有限公司 | Electrowetting panel and its working method |
| CN111025622A (en) * | 2019-12-24 | 2020-04-17 | 上海天马微电子有限公司 | Electrowetting display panel and 3D printing system |
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| US10866404B2 (en) * | 2016-03-24 | 2020-12-15 | Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha | Electrowetting device and method of manufacturing electrowetting device |
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| KR20110019613A (en) * | 2009-08-20 | 2011-02-28 | 고려대학교 산학협력단 | Electrowetting device for improving electrowetting efficiency |
| CN109894169A (en) * | 2019-03-26 | 2019-06-18 | 上海天马微电子有限公司 | Electrowetting panel and its working method |
| CN111025622A (en) * | 2019-12-24 | 2020-04-17 | 上海天马微电子有限公司 | Electrowetting display panel and 3D printing system |
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