Development and fabrication of a novel photopatternable electric responsive Pluronic hydrogel for MEMS applications

In this paper, we present the controlled swelling of a novel active material for microsystems: a photopatternable electric responsive Pluronic hydrogel. It is very promising as an actuator material in biomedical and microfluidic applications. Upon application of very modest voltages over electrodes in an aqueous environment, it shows a volume swelling of about 400% compared with its initial volume in dry state. We present the synthesis of the novel material, the development of a MEMS compatible fabrication process and measurement results on fabricated test structures.