Polymer multilayer films regulate macroscopic fluid flow and power microfluidic devices via supramolecular interactions

Self-powered supramolecular micropumps could potentially provide a solution for powerless microfluidic devices where the fluid flow can be manipulated via modulating non-covalent interactions. An attempt has been made to fabricate thin-film-based micropumps by depositing a β-cyclodextrin (‘host’) fu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Soft matter 2022-08, Vol.18 (30), p.5605-5614
Main Authors: Alam, Mujeeb, Gill, Arshdeep Kaur, Varshney, Rohit, Miglani, Chirag, Tiwari, Naveen, Patra, Debabrata
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cyclodextrins
Flow velocity
Fluid dynamics
Fluid flow
Microfluidic devices
Microfluidics
Micropumps
Multilayers
Polymer films
Polymers
Thin films
β-Cyclodextrin
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Summary:Self-powered supramolecular micropumps could potentially provide a solution for powerless microfluidic devices where the fluid flow can be manipulated via modulating non-covalent interactions. An attempt has been made to fabricate thin-film-based micropumps by depositing a β-cyclodextrin (‘host’) functionalized polymer on a glass slide via layer-by-layer assembly. These supramolecular micropumps turned on the fluid flow upon addition of ‘guest’ molecules to the multilayer films. The flow velocity was tuned using the concentration of the guest molecules as well as the number of host layers inside the multilayer films. Numerical modelling reveals that the solutal buoyancy, which originates from host–guest complexation, is primarily responsible for the fluid flow. In view of its potential application in self-powered devices, the thin-film-based micropump was integrated into a microfluidic device to show molecular and colloidal transport over long distances.
ISSN:1744-683X
1744-6848
DOI:10.1039/d2sm00510g