Fabrication of ionic-polymer-metal-composite (IPMC) micropump using a commercial Nafion

James Jungho Pak; Jihong Kim; Sang Woo Oh; Jee Hee Son; Sung Hwan Cho; Seung-Ki Lee; Jong-Yeon Park; Byungkyu Kim

doi:10.1117/12.539671

27 July 2004 Fabrication of ionic-polymer-metal-composite (IPMC) micropump using a commercial Nafion

James Jungho Pak, Jihong Kim, Sang Woo Oh, Jee Hee Son, Sung Hwan Cho, Seung-Ki Lee, Jong-Yeon Park, Byungkyu Kim

Proceedings Volume 5385, Smart Structures and Materials 2004: Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD); (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.539671
Event: Smart Structures and Materials, 2004, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

This paper describes the fabrication and characteristics of an ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) membrane-shaped micro-actuator and its application to the fabrication of a micro-pump. After fabricating two 8mm×8mm IPMC membrane-shaped actuators using a Nafion film, their displacements were measured. The fabricated IPMC membrane-shaped micro-actuators showed displacement of 14~27μ at the applied voltage ranging from 4VP-P to 10VP-P at 0.5Hz. Displacement of the IPMC actuator fabricated with a commercially available Nafion is large enough to make the IPMC actuator a membrane-shaped micro-actuator for fabricating an IPMC micro-pump. IPMC micro-pump was fabricated by assembling IPMC membrane-shaped micro-actuator and PDMS(polydimethylsiloxane) micro-channel together. PDMS micro-channel was designed to have nozzle/diffuser structures which make the fluids flow from inlet to outlet when the IPMC membrane-shaped micro-actuator is deflected up and down by the applied voltages. The measured flow rate of the fabricated IPMC micro-pump was about 9.9μℓ/min at 0.5Hz when the input voltage and duty ratio were 8V P-P and 50%, respectively. The test results illustrate that the fabricated IPMC micro-pump is suitable for pumping fluid through micro-channel on a PDMS substrate. Mechanical performances of beam-shaped and bridge-shaped conductive polymer actuator in aqueous solution and in solid electrolyte have been measured and analyzed. The optimum thickness of polypyrrole for the best bending performance is about 17-19 μm which has been polymerized at the current density of 5.4 μA/mm2 for 120 minutes. For the application of conductive polymer actuator to a micropump, silicon bulk micromachining process has been combined.

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James Jungho Pak, Jihong Kim, Sang Woo Oh, Jee Hee Son, Sung Hwan Cho, Seung-Ki Lee, Jong-Yeon Park, and Byungkyu Kim "Fabrication of ionic-polymer-metal-composite (IPMC) micropump using a commercial Nafion", Proc. SPIE 5385, Smart Structures and Materials 2004: Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD), (27 July 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.539671

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