Inkjet printing of magnetic / non-magnetic polymer microfluidic actuators

Magnetic actuation is an interesting manipulation method for lab-on-a-chip. The fabrication of magnetic microfluidic actuators is usually done by photolithographic processes which are not always compatible with the required polymer system and which form a rather expensive technology. Therefore, we explore the possibility to use inkjet printing to fabricate microfluidic actuators. Inkjet printing can compete with lithography, since it is simple, flexible and cost effective. Our results show that the successfully inkjet printed magnetic microfluidic actuators do respond to an external magnetic field. In particular, the actuator rotates conform to an applied magnetic field.