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Reversible photo-actuated hydrogels for micro-valve applications

Dunne, Aishling, Florea, Larisa orcid logoORCID: 0000-0002-4704-2393 and Diamond, Dermot orcid logoORCID: 0000-0003-2944-4839 (2014) Reversible photo-actuated hydrogels for micro-valve applications. In: Insight Student conference, 12 Sept 2014, UCD, Dublin, Ireland.

Abstract
In recent years, a popular way of photo-modulating flow control in microfluidic channels has been through the use of acidified spiropyran (SP) hydrogels that needed to be externally protonated with HCl solutions.1,2 In the swollen protonated merocyanine (MCH+) form, the hydrogel blocks the channels and prevents flow. When exposed to white light, the positively charged MCH+ is converted to the uncharged SP form, triggering shrinking of the hydrogel, and the channel opens. The addition of acrylic acid copolymerised within the hydrogel provides an internal source of protons that allows repeatable photo- actuation in neutral pH environments. Here we report the effect of the polymerization solvent on the shrinking and swelling kinetics of the photo-responsive hydrogel. Using this approach, reversible fast photo-actuated hydrogels have been obtained and have been successfully used for micro-valves applications in micro-fluidic channels.
Metadata
Item Type:Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Event Type:Conference
Refereed:No
Uncontrolled Keywords:Hydrogels; Spiropyran; Microfluidics; Photo-responsive; Soft polymer materials
Subjects:Physical Sciences > Organic chemistry
Physical Sciences > Chemistry
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science and Health > School of Chemical Sciences
Research Initiatives and Centres > INSIGHT Centre for Data Analytics
Research Initiatives and Centres > National Centre for Sensor Research (NCSR)
Use License:This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. View License
Funders:Science Foundation Ireland, Insight, NCSR
ID Code:20221
Deposited On:25 Sep 2014 10:26 by Aishling Dunne . Last Modified 17 Sep 2018 10:42
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