A light-activated optopiezoelectric thin-film actuator for microfluidic applications

In this paper, we present a new type of piezoelectric composite material, optopiezoelectric thin-film, to serve as a lightactivated micropump for integrating with a microfluidic device. By using a photoconductive material (titanium oxide phthalocyanine) to serve as one of the electrodes of a piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer, multiple locations of this optopiezoelectric thin-film can be actuated independently with one driving voltage source and a programmable light mask. Integrating this optopiezoelectric thin-film to a microfluidic device, complex operations of a multi-functioned microfluidic device can potentially be simplified and scaled up. Here, we present our preliminary result to demonstrate the feasibility of using one optopiezoelectric thin-film to serve as two microfluidic micropumps controlled by a light mask.