Experimental Demonstration of Catching and Releasing Functions of Artificial Cilia Using Induced Charge Electro-Osmosis

Manipulation of an object is essential in microfluidic applications. In this study, we experimentally demonstrate that the artificial cilia having a face-to-face structure shows catching and releasing functions in water through induced charge electro-osmosis. In particular, by the visualization of the flow fields, we show that a target object was pulled into a cilium region by the pull-in flow due to the up-wing motion of the cilia and released by the pop-up flow due to the down-wing motion. We believe that our device is useful to manipulate various particles in microfluidic channels.