Enhanced Electrothermal Pumping with Thin Film Resistive Heaters

This work demonstrates the use of thin film heaters to enhance electrothermal pumping in microfluidic systems. Thin film heating electrothermal pumping is more efficient than Joule heating alone. Numerical simulations of an asymmetric electrode array are performed to demonstrate the advantages of incorporating thin film heaters. This specific simulation shows that thin film heater electrothermal pumping provides approximately two and one-half times more volumetric flow than Joule heating alone for the same input power to both systems. In addition, external heating allows for electrothermal pumping to be applicable to low conductivity media.