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PubMed · 15570375

An efficient method for the fabrication of temperature-sensitive hydrogel microactuators.

Heiko van der Linden·Wouter Olthuis·Piet Bergveld
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Abstract

In this article a new method for the photolithographical deposition of temperature-sensitive hydrogels is presented. The method can be used in conjunction with standard 365 nm UV-photolithography to accurately dimension and position temperature-sensitive hydrogel microactuators in a highly parallel fashion. A number of characteristics of the hydrogels were investigated. These include: the photolithographical reproduction quality, the effect of the crosslinking density in the hydrogels on their swelling behavior, the swelling hysteresis behavior, the effect of dimensional constraints on the swelling of the hydrogels and the effect of copolymerization with an ionizable comonomer on the temperature behavior of the hydrogels. The method presents a considerable improvement in the microfabrication of temperature-sensitive hydrogel microactuators and has potential for the mass-fabrication of these interesting microactuators.

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Equipment DesignEquipment Failure AnalysisHydrogelsMaterials TestingMicrofluidic Analytical TechniquesMicrofluidicsMiniaturizationMolecular ConformationMotionPhotographyTemperatureEvaluation StudyJournal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

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Heiko van der Linden, Wouter Olthuis, Piet Bergveld. 2004-10-21. An efficient method for the fabrication of temperature-sensitive hydrogel microactuators.. https://doi.org/10.1039/b406247g

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