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Buckling of dielectric elastomeric plates for soft, electrically active microfluidic pumps
Behrouz Tavakol1, Michael Bozlar, Christian Punckt
1Department of Engineering Science & Mechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. dpholmes@vt.edu.
Soft Matter
|June 7, 2014
Summary
Flexible plates use voltage-induced buckling to create a microfluidic pump. This novel soft pump offers tunable flow rates for advanced microfluidic devices.
Area of Science:
- Soft matter physics
- Microfluidics
- Mechanical engineering
Background:
- Elastic instabilities in soft materials can enable novel functionalities.
- Microfluidic devices often require efficient and tunable fluid pumping mechanisms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a microfluidic pump utilizing voltage-induced buckling of flexible plates.
- To quantify the performance of this novel soft pumping system.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of thin, flexible plates with soft electrodes for electrical actuation.
- Inducing and analyzing voltage-controlled buckling phenomena.
- Measuring fluid flow rates within a microfluidic channel actuated by the buckling plates.
Main Results:
- Successfully demonstrated voltage-induced buckling in soft electrodes for fluid pumping.
- Quantified the onset of buckling and measured achievable flow rates.
- Showcased the large, reversible deformations of the soft electrodes.
Conclusions:
- Voltage-induced buckling of flexible plates provides an effective mechanism for microfluidic pumping.
- The developed soft, embeddable pump is suitable for creating standalone microfluidic devices.
- This technology enables tunable flow rates for advanced microfluidic applications.
