Conducting Polymer based Peristaltic Pumps
Priam Pillai
Objective: To
develop a peristaltic pump using conducting polymers
Conducting polymer micro-devices have many potential micro
fluidic applications. In this project the use of conducting polymer tubes will
be used to create a peristaltic pump. Polypyrrole tubes (1-3mm in diameter and
about 100-200 micro m in thickness) are created by an electrochemical deposition
on nickel wire. Gold wire can be embedded into different cross sections of these
tubes, which can make them selectively actuate in different areas. This motion
is much like a peristaltic pump.
Figure 1: Sample tubes deposited on Nickel.
Figure 2: Tested using an Electrochemical DMA. The figure shows the
voltage applied on the polymer tube and the corresponding stress response.