Microfluidic flow driven by electric fields

Microfluidics or lab on chip technology, has developed itself significantly during the past 25 years. Now it has become a robust tool to manipu- late tiny amounts of fluid or gas for various applications. Microfluidics is the process of transporting, mixing, separating small amounts of fluid in microchannels. Also chemical reactions can be carried out in a well con- trolled way. With this technology major advancements in point-of-care diagnostics, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, public health and agricul- ture has been achieved. The basic ingredients of microfluidics are mi- crochannels, micropumps to transport small amounts of fluid or droplets, electronics to control the flow and various sensors and detectors for chem- ical analysis. The research described in this thesis deals with flow in mi- crochannels and in small drops. In both cases the flow is controlled by electric fields.