Static and dynamic behavior of all inkjet-printed piezoelectric polymer actuators for use in microfluidic systems

Drop-on-demand inkjet printing is a versatile manufacturing technology that can be used to deposit fluids selectively onto various substrates. The printing process is data-driven and additive, thus no masking is required. This makes inkjet printing cost-effective and flexible compared to standard lithography-based processing. We present all inkjetprinted piezoelectric polymer actuators that are printed on polymer substrates. The actuators are characterized concerning their static and dynamic behavior. We present cantilever bending beam as well as membrane actuators. Depending on the actuator geometry and applied field, deflections above 100 µm for cantilever actuators at driving voltages of several 100 V are realized. The behavior of the actuators presented is promising for use as a membranetype micropump that can be integrated in microfluidic lab-on-chip systems. A design approach of such a polymerbased micropump is presented