This paper provides a detailed overview of developments in transducer materials technology relating to their current and future applications in micro-scale devices. Recent advances in piezoelectric, magnetostrictive and shape-memory alloy systems are discussed and emerging transducer materials such as magnetic nanoparticles, expandable micro-spheres and conductive polymers are introduced. Materials properties, transducer mechanisms and end applications are described and the potential for integration of the materials with ancillary systems components is viewed as an essential consideration. The review concludes with a short discussion of structural polymers that are extending the range of micro-fabrication techniques available to designers and production engineers beyond the limitations of silicon fabrication technology.

A novel method is established for permittivity enhancement of a silicone matrix for dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) by molecular level modifi cations of the elastomer matrix. A push-pull dipole is synthesized to be compatible with the silicone crosslinking chemistry, allowing for direct grafting to the crosslinker molecules in a one-step fi lm formation process. This method prevents agglomeration and yields elastomer fi lms that are homogeneous down to the molecular level. The dipole-to-silicone network grafting reaction is studied by FTIR. The chemical, thermal, mechanical and electrical properties of fi lms with dipole contents ranging from 0 wt% to 13.4 wt% were thoroughly characterized. The grafting of dipoles modifi es the relative permittivity and the stiffness, resulting in the actuation strain at a given electrical fi eld being improved by a factor of six.

Cellular polymers can be internally charged by "microstorms" (silent or partial discharges) within the voids of the polymer foam. The resulting material, which carries positive and negative charges on the internal void surfaces, is called a ferroelectret. Ferroelectrets behave like typical ferroelectrics, hence they provide a novel class of ferroic materials. The soft foams are strongly piezoelectric and can be used, in a wide range of applications, as transducers for interconverting mechanical and electrical signals. Herein, an overview is provided on the preparation of cellular polymers by physical foaming (extrusion, biaxial stretching, and controlled inflation by pressure treatments), on their charging by "microstorms", on their piezo- and pyroelectricity, and on analogies to ferroelectrics. Finally, a survey of selected applications is presented.

When exposed to sufficiently high electric fields, polymer-foam electret materials with closed cells exhibit ferroelectric-like behavior and may therefore be called ferroelectrets. In cellular ferroelectrets, the influence of the cell size and shape distributions on the application-relevant properties is not yet understood. Therefore, controlled inflation experiments were carried out on cellular polypropylene films, and the resulting elastical and electromechanical parameters were determined. The elastic modulus in the thickness direction shows a minimum with a corresponding maximum in the electromechanical transducer coefficient. The resonance frequency shifts as a function of the elastic modulus and the relative density of the inflated cellular films. Therefore, the transducer properties of cellular ferroelectrets can be optimized by means of controlled inflation.

The influence of the corona-charging process on the piezoelectric transducer coefficient d33 of a cellular electret film has been investigated. An increased corona voltage can be considered as a way to enhance the charge density and thus also the resulting piezoelectric effect. Higher corona-charging voltages are possible with increased ambient pressure or in suitable dielectric gases. The effect of the gas inside the voids has also been studied. Enhanced transducer coefficients were obtained by corona charging in N2 or N2O gas atmospheres at 100-450 or 100-140 kPa pressures, respectively. The highest transducer coefficients of about 790 pCN-1 were obtained when N2 gas was filled into the voids of a cellular polymer film by means of consecutive vacuum and high-pressure treatments at 295 or 313 K.

Detailed knowledge about the essential properties required for piezoelectric polymer-electret foams (or ferroelectrets) [1,2] is exploited in the design and the preparation of cellular polyethylene terephthalate (PETP) electret films with piezoelectric properties. The relevant relationships between structural, elastic and piezoelectric properties had been established previously for polypropylene (PP) ferroelectrets and could be successfully employed in the present demonstration of the novel ferroelectret polymer PETP.The piezoelectric properties of ferroelectrets are based on the quasi-permanent internal electric charging of the cellular structure with charge layers of opposite polarity on void surfaces that face each other. Due to the bipolar charging, the centrosymmetry of the polymer foam is broken and macroscopic electric dipoles are formed. In addition, the voids must deform and the effective dipole moments change under mechanical stress. So far, because of the availability of highquality cellular PP films, PP has been the ºworkhorseº of ferroelectret research and development.In PP, the combination of a relatively soft structure (low elastic stiffness) with internally trapped bipolar charges yields a high piezoelectric coefficient in the film-thickness direction. Typically, PP ferroelectret films show direct and inverse piezoelectric d 33 coefficients of several hundred pC/N (or pm/V). For cellular PP films, the preparation, the optimization of the cellular structure by means of controlled inflation, the electrical charging through internal micro-plasma discharges, and the charge storage in deep traps are well understood. [3±10] Furthermore, piezoelectric cellular PP films are already implemented in several applications. [2] There is, however, an essential requirement that PP ferroelectrets do not meet: The thermal stability of the currently available piezoelectric cellular PP films is limited to around 60 to 70 C, depending on the chosen annealing treatment. [11,12] Here, more stable materials are clearly needed for most applications. Furthermore, the ferroelectret concept should be confirmed with independently developed polymer foams that exhibit similar piezoelectric behavior.Here, we investigate PETP films that are already produced in industry on a large scale and that offer chances to prepare ferroelectret films of high quality and to achieve slightly better thermal (and temporal) stabilities than the existing PP ferroelectrets.Recently, the dependence of the piezoelectric response on the elastic stiffness and on the void structure was established for cellular PP films. [7,13] In summary, the inversely U-shaped behavior schematically shown in Figure 1 is observed. Films with small (or low) voids are relatively stiff and therefore show only low piezoelectricity. The controlled increase of the void height by means of inflation [7±9] decreases the elastic stiffness and increases the piezoelectric activity until an optimal foam structure is obtained. For cellular PP films, a minimal elastic COMMUNICATI...

A novel innovative approach towards a marketable lab-on-chip system for point-of-care in vitro diagnostics is reported. In a consortium of seven Fraunhofer Institutes a lab-on-chip system called "Fraunhofer ivD-platform" has been established which opens up the possibility for an on-site analysis at low costs. The system features a high degree of modularity and integration. Modularity allows the adaption of common and established assay types of various formats. Integration lets the system move from the laboratory to the point-of-need. By making use of the microarray format the lab-on-chip system also addresses new trends in biomedicine. Research topics such as personalized medicine or companion diagnostics show that multiparameter analyses are an added value for diagnostics, therapy as well as therapy control. These goals are addressed with a low-cost and self-contained cartridge, since reagents, microfluidic actuators and various sensors are integrated within the cartridge. In combination with a fully automated instrumentation (read-out and processing unit) a diagnostic assay can be performed in about 15 min. Via a user-friendly interface the read-out unit itself performs the assay protocol, data acquisition and data analysis. So far, example assays for nucleic acids (detection of different pathogens) and protein markers (such as CRP and PSA) have been established using an electrochemical read-out based on redoxcycling or an optical read-out based on total internal reflectance fluorescence (TIRF). It could be shown that the assay performance within the cartridge is similar to that found for the same assay in a microtiter plate. Furthermore, recent developments are the integration of sample preparation and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on-chip. Hence, the instrument is capable of providing heating-and-cooling cycles necessary for DNA-amplification. In addition to scientific aspects also the production of such a lab-on-chip system was part of the development since this heavily affects the success of a later market launch. In summary, the Fraunhofer ivD-platform covers the whole value chain ranging from microfluidics, material and polymer sciences, assay and sensor development to the production and assembly design. In this consortium the gap between diagnostic needs and available technologies can be closed.

Ferroelectrets (i.e., charged cellular polymers) are rendered piezoelectric by means of barrier discharges inside the air-filled voids. The light emission from barrier discharges in cellular polypropylene ferroelectrets was quantitatively studied. Light emission typically occurs above a threshold voltage of 3 kV and then significantly increases with the applied voltage. Time-resolved images reveal discharge processes in individual voids. In addition, a second "back discharge" emission is observed when the voltage is reduced to zero. The buildup of the "effective polarization" in cellular PP ferroelectrets was studied by an acoustic method and dielectric resonance spectroscopy. A polarization-voltage (P-V) hysteresis loop was obtained by analyzing the data with an existing model for the piezoelectric d33 coefficient of ferroelectrets, from which a threshold charging voltage of 3 kV and the back barrier discharges were confirmed and a zero-field "effective polarization" o f 0.5 mC/ m2 was determined. However, charge densities of up to 2 mC/ m2 were measured under an applied bias voltage, leading to the conclusion that the observed back discharges destroy a significant fraction of the effective charge density