Title: Photodeformable CLCP Material: Study on Photo-activated Microvalve Applications

Author: Maolin Chen, Haitao Huang, Yutian Zhu*, Zhao Liu*, Xing Xing, Futao Cheng, Yanlei Yu*

Journal: Appl. Phys. A, 2011, 102, 667-672

Abstract:

A kind of photodeformable polymer material, crosslinked liquid-crystalline polymer (CLCP) incorporated with azobenzene moieties, is studied as microvalve membrane actuator for microfluidic system applications. In the photomechanical analysis, the photo-induced bending effect of such polymer film is equivalent to a moment Tm and an axial force Nm applied on it, which are related to irradiation time and intensity of the driving UV light. A linear elastic beam model is established to calculate the maximal force that the valve actuator can resist and to analyze the deformation at any irradiation time in FEA. An experimental setup is built to record the flow rate in one operate cycle under various irradiation or preload conditions. The open time can reach 8 s and the close time 6 s. The results show that CLCP films have great potential in microvalve applications in biological engineering, drug delivering, etc. It has advantages of wireless, remote control and green energy.

论文链接：https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00339-010-6103-4

PDF下载：Photodeformable CLCP Material: Study on Photo-activated Microvalve Applications.pdf

本研究利用偶氮苯交联液晶聚合物(CLCP)作为微流控系统中微阀膜驱动器。利用偶氮苯CLCP光致形变的性能，使薄膜弯曲并带动液体流动。在此基础上，我们建立了弹性梁的模型（由一个CLCP薄膜和两个PMMA外壳组成），并计算了阀执行器所能承受的最大力。发现薄膜的弯曲与紫外光的照射时间和强度有关。接下来，我们建立了一个实验装置，记录了其中液体在不同光强或预载条件下的流量。结果表明，CLCP膜具有无线、远程可控、绿色等优点，在生物工程、药物传递等方面具有广阔的应用前景。