Electrohydrodynamic conduction pump with asymmetrical electrode structures in the microchannels

Abstract

In this study, we have developed a microfluidic pump that utilizes the electrohydrodynamic (EHD) conduction of a working fluid. Ring-shaped pumps have been used in previous studies on EHD conduction, but these require a three-dimensional arrangement of electrode pairs, which makes it difficult to downsize the apparatus. Here, we propose a mechanism to achieve one-way fluid flow in the microchannels by arranging non-parallel electrodes in a plane to generate an asymmetric electric field. One advantage of this design is that it can be easily and precisely fabricated using microelectromechanical system (MEMS) processing techniques: This has allowed us to integrate a micropump and a microchannel into a single device. Moreover, the pressure generated by the pump is induced solely by electrochemical reactions; since mechanical components such as gears are not required, this helps reduce the noise generated by the device.