POROUS POLYMERS: COMPOSITIONS AND USES THEREOF

摘要

A composition, method and use is disclosed for a porous plug that functions as an electro-osmotic pump. The polymer eliminates any back pressure effects while enhancing the electro-osmotic flow in a channel. The pump is bach fabricated by surface micromachining on top of a silicon wafer. The pump device is driven by an alternating zero-average injected current signal at low frequencies producing a bubble-free electro-osmotic flow with a reversible net movement. The device is capable of an average water-air interface velocity of 1.8 mum/second at 0.8 Hz. The velocity may be increased from between 4.8-13.9 mum/second by necking down the channel size.