Electroactive β-PVDF Polymer as Fluidic Acoustic Mixer for Lab-on-a-Chip Applications

Ingenious micromixing systems have been developed in order to overcome the limitations of mixing microflows in microfluidic devices reaching a complete and effective mixing in short times. Several approaches have been tried. MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) based devices have been used, such as microvalves and micropumps [1]. However, these systems increase the cost of the system, the complexity of the control system and are difficult to integrate in a single-chip. Other approaches rely in long or complex channels topologies, that can be difficult to microfabricate and can involve long mixing times, especially when the fluids diffusion coefficients are very small [2]. A different approach can be the use of acoustic waves. They have been used both to promote mixing [3] and to pump [4] fluids. One possible way to achieve these effects, is using a piezoelectric material.