Performance characteristics of a polypyrrole modified polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane based microfluidic pump

In this paper, we present a low-cost, low-voltage and low-power polypyrrole-membrane microfluidic pump with two one-way push button check valves. This polymeric microfluidic pump is fabricated with a conductive polymer (polypyrrole) modified poly dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane encased into a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) structure. The pumping action is induced by an electrochemical actuated PPy-PDMS membrane while check valves at the inlet and outlet control the flow direction in the respective pump phases. This pump is self-priming. Accurate control of the output flow rate can be obtained by changing the actuation frequency. With this pump, a maximum pumping rate of 52 μL/min was achieved using an input power of 55 mW operated at ±1.5 V.