Summary: 1198 JOURNAL OF MICROELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS, VOL. 14, NO. 5, OCTOBER 2005
Development and Modeling of Electrically Triggered
Hydrogels for Microfluidic Applications
Michael J. Bassetti, Aveek N. Chatterjee, N. R. Aluru, Member, IEEE, and David J. Beebe, Member, IEEE
Abstract--In this paper, we present progress in the development
of electrically triggered hydrogels as components in microfluidic
systems. Stimuli-responsive hydrogels are fabricated using liquid-
phase photopolymerization techniques and are subjected to dif-
ferent voltage signals in order to determine their volume change re-
sponse characteristics. A chemoelectromechanical model has been
developed to predict the swelling and deswelling kinetics of these
hydrogels. The Nernst­Planck equation, Poisson equation, and me-
chanical equations are the basic governing relationships, and these
are solved in an iterative manner to compute the deformation of
the hydrogel in response to varied electrical input. [1019]
Index Terms--Actuator, electrically triggered hydrogel, electric
field, hydrogel, microfluidics, valve.
I. INTRODUCTION
ALOOK at the current state of life science research reveals
methods and protocols that have been more or less the

Source: Aluru, Narayana R. - Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Collections: Engineering; Materials Science