Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 3, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2193
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Funding
- DFG (Germany) [Ze 230/19-1]
- IRTG Mainz-Seoul [GRK 1404]
- SNU-AICT (Korea) [490-20100024]
- NRF (Korea) [490-20110016]
- DAAD
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Responsive polymers are low-cost, light weight and flexible, and thus an attractive class of materials for the integration into micromechanical and lab-on-chip systems. Triggered by external stimuli, liquid crystalline elastomers are able to perform mechanical motion and can be utilized as microactuators. Here we present the fabrication of one-piece micropumps from liquid crystalline core-shell elastomer particles via a microfluidic double-emulsion process, the continuous nature of which enables a low-cost and rapid production. The liquid crystalline elastomer shell contains a liquid core, which is reversibly pumped into and out of the particle by actuation of the liquid crystalline shell in a jellyfish-like motion. The liquid crystalline elastomer shells have the potential to be integrated into a microfluidic system as micropumps that do not require additional components, except passive channel connectors and a trigger for actuation. This renders elaborate and high-cost micromachining techniques, which are otherwise required for obtaining microstructures with pump function, unnecessary.
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