Light-driven peristaltic pumping by an actuating splay-bend strip.

ABSTRACT: Despite spectacular progress in microfluidics, small-scale liquid manipulation, with few exceptions, is still driven by external pumps and controlled by large-scale valves, increasing cost and size and limiting complexity. By contrast, optofluidics uses light to power, control and monitor liquid manipulation, potentially allowing for small, self-contained microfluidic devices. Here we demonstrate a soft light-propelled actuator made of liquid crystal gel that pumps microlitre volumes of water. The strip of actuating material serves as both a pump and a channel leading to an extremely simple microfluidic architecture that is both powered and controlled by light. The performance of the pump is well explained by a simple theoretical model in which the light-induced bending of the actuator com

SUBMITTER: Dradrach K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10073117 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature