Development and fabrication of a novel photopatternable electric responsive Pluronic hydrogel for MEMS applications

In this paper, we present the controlled swelling of a novel active material for microsystems: a photopatternable electric responsive Pluronic hydrogel. It is very promising as an actuator material in biomedical and microfluidic applications. Upon application of very modest voltages over electrodes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors and actuators. A. Physical. 2012-10, Vol.186, p.184-190
Main Authors: Guan, T., Godts, F., Ceyssens, F., Vanderleyden, E., Adesanya, K., Dubruel, P., Neves, H.P., Puers, R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Actuator materials
Actuators
Biomedical materials
Drying
Electric responsive
Electrodes
Hydrogel
Hydrogels
MEMS
Photopatternable
Pluronic
Swelling
Voltage
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Summary:In this paper, we present the controlled swelling of a novel active material for microsystems: a photopatternable electric responsive Pluronic hydrogel. It is very promising as an actuator material in biomedical and microfluidic applications. Upon application of very modest voltages over electrodes in an aqueous environment, it shows a volume swelling of about 400% compared with its initial volume in dry state. We present the synthesis of the novel material, the development of a MEMS compatible fabrication process and measurement results on fabricated test structures.
ISSN:0924-4247
1873-3069
DOI:10.1016/j.sna.2012.01.021