Actuation of water droplets driven by an organic transistor based inverter

The authors report the implementation of a microfluidic device for actuation of water droplets driven by an organic transistor based inverter. The research reported in this letter combines the advantages of discrete droplet based microfluidic systems along with simple fabrication procedures for fabricating organic transistor based circuits. An organic transistor based inverter fabricated using pentacene and N,N′-bis(n-octyl)-dicyanoperylene-3,4:9,10-bis(dicarboxyimide) (Northwestern University) is used to drive water droplets on a simple microfluidic device not employing the use of a top plate. Rapid and repeatable motion of droplets is observed for output voltages of 50–95V.