Coupling digital microfluidics with mass spectrometry

Digital microfluidics enables the electrical actuation of microliter-sized droplets on a planar surface, facilitating precise control and digitization of chemical processes. It is typically operated in a closed chip format, preventing evaporation and contamination which also complicates chemical analysis of the trapped droplets. Thus, subsequent analytics are usually carried out offline or with simple optical methods. A new method including a chip-integrated microspray hole now allows on-the-fly mass spectrometry analysis on a digital microfluidics chip.

The term “digitization of chemistry“ has recently gained popularity associated with the dream of a so-called robochemist or self-driving laboratory.¹⁾ This is driven by scientific breakthroughs combining laboratory automation and miniaturization in chemistry.²⁾ A perfect candidate as the microchemical processing unit of such a self-driven lab is digital microfluidics (DMFs).³⁾ In DMFs chemical droplets can be electrically processed on a surface, making it possible to carry out chemical processes in micro- to nanoliter-sized vessels in a very unrestricted, automated and easy to digitize way. Here,

Industrie + Technik