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Prof. Kees Bastiaansen's research published in Nature Materials

29 June 2009

Prof. Kees Bastiaansen's research published in Nature Materials
Kees his paper entitled 'Printed artificial cilia from liquid-crystal network actuators modularly driven by light’ will be published in the next issue of Nature Materials. The work is co-authored by researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology and Philips Research Laboratories in the Netherlands and presents the development of polymeric microactuators.

Polymeric micro-actuators are potentially useful in micro mechanical systems and lab-on-a-chip systems. However, manufacturing of miniature polymeric actuators has been complicated due 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 sub-units 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.
Contact:Prof Ton Peijs
Website:http://www.nature.com/nmat/index.html

Updated by: Victoria Wells