We study the influence of electrowetting on the formation of undesired solute residues, so-called coffee stains, during the evaporation of a drop containing non-volatile solvents. Electrowetting is found to suppress coffee stains of both colloidal particles of various sizes aand DNA solutions for alternating (AC) frequencies ranging from a few Hertz to a few tens of kHz. Two main effects are shown to contribute to the suppression: (i) the time-dependent electrostatic force prevents pinning of the three phase contact line. (ii) internal flow fields generated by AC electrowetting counteract the evaporation driven flux and thereby prevent the accumulation of solutes along the contact line.

Suppressing the coffee stain effect: How to control colloidal self-assembly in evaporating drops using electrowetting

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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