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We report on the use of zipping actuation applied to dielectric elastomer actuators to microfabricate mm-sized pumps.
The zipping actuators presented here use electrostatic attraction to deform an elastomeric membrane by pulling it into
contact with a rigid counter electrode. We present several actuation schemes using either conventional DEA actuation,
zipping, or a combination of both in order to realize microfluidic devices. A zipping design in which the electric field is
applied across the elastomer membrane was explored theoretically and experimentally. Single zipping chambers and a
micropump body made of a three chambers connected by an embedded channel were wet-etched into a silicon wafer and
subsequently covered by a gold-implanted silicone membrane. We measured static deflections of up to 300 μm on
chambers with square openings of 1.8 and 2.6 mm side, in very good agreement with our model.
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Luc Maffli, Benjamin O'Brien, Samuel Rosset, Herbert Shea, "Pump it up," Proc. SPIE 8340, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2012, 83402Q (3 April 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.914831