Photoactive Microfluidic Pumps – by splay aligned liquid crystal network actuators

In the current poster, photoactive microfluidic elements based on blue light stimulation of a liquid crystal network (LCN) film were created. The selected actuator material is a splay oriented LCN film. By illuminating with blue LED light, reversible actuation is attained in a matter of seconds. By covalently bonding to a PDMS membrane, and subsequent membrane deflection, liquid movement within a microfluidic chip can be achieved in a low power and non-contact setting. Thus, increasingly complex workflows can be integrated into lap-on-a-chip devices.