title: Highly responsive core-shell microactuator arrays for use in viscous and viscoelastic fluids.
abstract: We present a new fabrication method to produce arrays of highly responsive polymer-metal core-shell magnetic microactuators. The core-shell fabrication method decouples the elastic and magnetic structural components such that the actuator response can be optimized by adjusting the core-shell geometry. Our microstructures are 10 μm long, 550 nm in diameter, and electrochemically fabricated in particle track-etched membranes, comprising a poly(dimethylsiloxane) core with a 100 nm Ni shell surrounding the upper 3-8 μm. The structures can achieve deflections of nearly 90° with moderate magnetic fields and are capable of driving fluid flow in a fluid 550 times more viscous than water.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 (USA).
authors.forename: Briana L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Fiser
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 (USA).
authors.forename: Adam R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Shields
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 (USA).
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Falvo
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 (USA).
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Superfine
keywords: actuators; biomimetics; core-shell; microelectromechanical systems