A chemical micropump actuated by self-oscillating polymer gel

We demonstrated a self-driven chemical micropump powered by self-oscillating motions of synthetic polymer gel converting chemical energy into displacements of a thin polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sheet to produce a directional flow via micro check valves. The gel oscillations induced by the oscillatory Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction generate large volume change. To effectively exploit this volume change, gel bars were used as drivers. They were sandwiched by a fixed cover glass and a push-bar to communicate the expanding (pushing) force of the gel bars to the pumping chamber. At 25 ?C, this gel micropump generated a 0.07 mN stroke force and a 0.28 ?L/min positive net flow in the microchannel. Additionally, the flow rate of this gel micropump was increased as the temperature was raised from 20 to 30 ?C. Compared to existing chemical micropumps, this gelbased micropump provides advantages of self-oscillating property, easy refueling and thermal controllability. This gel-based soft micropump would be used as wearable or medical devices exploiting the flexibility and quietness.