Uvarov Ilia V, Melenev Artem E, Svetovoy Vitaly B
Valiev Institute of Physics and Technology of Russian Academy of Sciences, Yaroslavl Branch, Universitetskaya 21, 150007 Yaroslavl, Russia.
Frumkin Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky Prospect 31 Bld. 4, 119071 Moscow, Russia.
Micromachines (Basel). 2022 Feb 10;13(2):283. doi: 10.3390/mi13020283.
The actuators needed for autonomous microfluidic devices have to be compact, low-power-consuming, and compatible with microtechnology. The electrochemical actuators could be good candidates, but they suffer from a long response time due to slow gas termination. An actuator in which the gas is terminated orders of magnitude faster has been demonstrated recently. It uses water electrolysis performed by short voltage pulses of alternating polarity (AP). However, oxidation of Ti electrodes leads to a rapid decrease in the performance. In this paper, we demonstrate a special driving regime of the actuator, which is able to support a constant stroke for at least 105 cycles. The result is achieved using a new driving regime when a series of AP pulses are interspersed with a series of single-polarity (SP) pulses. The new regime is realized by a special pulse generator that automatically adjusts the amplitude of the SP pulses to keep the current flowing through the electrodes at a fixed level. The SP pulses increase the power consumption by 15-60% compared to the normal AP operation and make the membrane oscillate in a slightly lifted position.
自主微流控设备所需的致动器必须紧凑、低功耗且与微技术兼容。电化学致动器可能是不错的选择，但由于气体终止缓慢，它们存在响应时间长的问题。最近已展示出一种气体终止速度快几个数量级的致动器。它利用由交替极性（AP）的短电压脉冲进行的水电解。然而，钛电极的氧化会导致性能迅速下降。在本文中，我们展示了致动器的一种特殊驱动方式，它能够在至少105个循环内支持恒定行程。当一系列AP脉冲穿插一系列单极性（SP）脉冲时，通过使用新的驱动方式实现了这一结果。新方式由一个特殊的脉冲发生器实现，该发生器自动调整SP脉冲的幅度，以使流过电极的电流保持在固定水平。与正常AP操作相比，SP脉冲使功耗增加了15 - 60%，并使膜在稍微抬起的位置振荡。
