The Impact of Microstructures on the Movement of Droplets Regulated by Wedge-Shaped Surfaces

In this study, the application of laser processing technology to produce the wedge surface and its internal structure in one-step way will be introduced, and the function of wedge surface and internal structure coupling on liquid’s movement and controlling will be studied. Inspired by the anisotropic behavior of ribbed structure of Rice Leaf on droplets, the optimal parameters of produced ribbed structure will be selected. The optimal ribbed structure will be applied in the internal side of the wedge surface so as to observe the controlling function of the bottom structure of the wedge surface on droplets. By changing the bottom structure of wedge surface with ribbed structure, the controlling function of the bottom structure of the wedge surface on droplets will be studied. The results indicate that the furthest movement distance of droplets is 13 mm on the wedge surface with optimal ribbed structure and in a wedge angle of 10 °. When the bottom structure of the wedge surface is the ribbed structure, the maximum volume for controlling the droplets to stop movement is 40 µL, and the droplets can be controlled to continue movement along the inside of the wedge. The study will provide a reference for the fields of droplet directional movement and microfluidic controlling