A micropump driven by a polypyrrole-based conducting polymer soft actuator

Micropumps are essential components of microfluidic systems and biosensing systems. in particular, micropumps used for micro total analysis systems transport fluids at a microflow rate with high precision. Moreover, they are also needed to transport high-viscosity fluids in cases where there are various types of drugs to be transported. Therefore, in order to realize a micropump that can transport solutions at a microflow rate, it is necessary to develop a high-precision microdeformable actuator with a simple mechanism. The conducting polymer soft actuator reported here opens widely and closes completely as a result of electrochemical oxidation and reduction, respectively. The opening and closing movement of the soft actuator, inside which the cation-driven layer is arranged, becomes large because the anion-driven layer that is arranged outside is the predominant driver. We developed a micropump driven by a conducting polymer soft actuator that opens and closes. Although the developed micropump contains no valve, the micropump can transport fluids in one direction without backflow. The newly developed micropump driven by the conducting polymer soft actuator can transport fluids in one direction without backflow by the opening and closing of two soft actuators. Furthermore, a wider range of flow rates and greater maximum delivery heads are obtained using the newly developed micropump. The energy consumption rate of the micropump is markedly lower than those of conventional micropumps. (C) 2010 Society of Chemical Industry