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Printed artificial cilia from liquid-crystal network actuators modularly driven by light

Nature Materials volume 8, pages 677–682 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Polymeric microactuators are potentially useful in micromechanical systems and lab-on-a-chip systems. However, manufacturing of miniature polymeric actuators has been complicated owing to the necessity of including electrodes for actuation or using lithographic techniques for patterning. Here, we demonstrate that all-polymer microdevices can be fabricated using inkjet printing technology in combination with self-organizing liquid-crystal network actuators. We exploit the self-assembling properties of the liquid crystal to create large strain gradients, and light-driven actuation is chosen to allow simple and remote addressing. By using multiple inks, microactuators with different subunits are created that can be selectively addressed by changing the wavelength of the light. The actuators mimic the motion of natural cilia. These artificial cilia have the potential to create flow and mixing in wet environments such as lab-on-a-chip applications. The process is easily adapted for roll-to-roll fabrication, allowing for large-scale and low-cost production of miniaturized active polymer systems.

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Figure 1: The monomers used to form the actuators in this study.
Figure 2: The splay–bend molecular organization through the thickness of the film.
Figure 3: Natural and artificial cilia and their motions.
Figure 4: Overview of the four basic processing steps to produce the modular cilia.
Figure 5: Microstructured cilia and their response to light.
Figure 6: Strain response of printed cilia.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Dutch Polymer Institute under project # 532.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Eindhoven University of Technology, NL-5600 MB Eindhoven, PO Box 513, The Netherlands

    Casper L. van Oosten, Cees W. M. Bastiaansen & Dirk J. Broer

  2. Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK

    Cees W. M. Bastiaansen

  3. Philips Research Laboratories, High Tech Campus 4, NL-5656AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Dirk J. Broer

Authors
  1. Casper L. van Oosten
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  2. Cees W. M. Bastiaansen
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  3. Dirk J. Broer
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Contributions

C.W.M.B., C.L.v.O. and D.J.B. conceived and designed the experiments, C.L.v.O. carried out the experiments and wrote the article and all authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript at all stages.

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Correspondence to Casper L. van Oosten.

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van Oosten, C., Bastiaansen, C. & Broer, D. Printed artificial cilia from liquid-crystal network actuators modularly driven by light. Nature Mater 8, 677–682 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2487

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