Real-time and reversible light-actuated microfluidic channel squeezing in dye-doped PDMS
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 25, 2025
Microfluidic Chips Controlled with Elastomeric Microvalve Arrays
Published on: October 1, 2007
Angelo Angelini1, Ubirajara Agero2, Federico Ferrarese Lupi3
1Nanoscience and Materials Division, Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica, Strada delle Cacce 91, 10135 Torino, Italy and Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy. francesca.frascella@polito.it.
Abstract:
The azobenzene chromophore is used as a functional dye for the development of smart microfluidic devices. A single layer microfluidic channel is produced, exploiting the potential of a dye doped PDMS formulation. The key advantage of this approach is the possibility to control the fluid flow by means of a simple light stimulus. Furthermore, the deformation can be controlled in time, space and intensity, giving rise to several degrees of freedom in the actuation of the channel squeezing. A future perspective will be the implementation of the microfluidic platform with structured light, to have the possibility to control the flow in a parallel and reversible manner at several points, modifying the pattern in real time.
