title: One-piece micropumps from liquid crystalline core-shell particles.
abstract: Responsive polymers are low-cost, light weight and flexible, and thus an attractive class of materials for the integration into micromechanical and lab-on-chip systems. Triggered by external stimuli, liquid crystalline elastomers are able to perform mechanical motion and can be utilized as microactuators. Here we present the fabrication of one-piece micropumps from liquid crystalline core-shell elastomer particles via a microfluidic double-emulsion process, the continuous nature of which enables a low-cost and rapid production. The liquid crystalline elastomer shell contains a liquid core, which is reversibly pumped into and out of the particle by actuation of the liquid crystalline shell in a jellyfish-like motion. The liquid crystalline elastomer shells have the potential to be integrated into a microfluidic system as micropumps that do not require additional components, except passive channel connectors and a trigger for actuation. This renders elaborate and high-cost micromachining techniques, which are otherwise required for obtaining microstructures with pump function, unnecessary.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Organic Chemistry, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Eva-Kristina
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Fleischmann
authors.forename: Hsin-Ling
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kapernaum
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Giesselmann
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lagerwall
authors.forename: Rudolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zentel