Development of a High-Performance and Robust PANI:PSS/C Electrode for an Electroosmotic Pump

Abstract

A high-performance and durable electroosmotic (EO) pump is developed using electropolymerized PANI:PSS/C electrodes. PANI:PSS was electrochemically synthesized on the carbon fiber paper using cyclic voltametry and characterized by a variety of physicochemical methods including field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). There was a linear relationship with a regression coefficient R2 ≥ 0.97 between the applied potential and the peak current (Ipeak), maximum flow rate (Qmax), maximum pressure (Pmax), respectively. The EO pump built with PANI:PSS/C electrodes, with an active area of 1.0 cm2, generated the maximum stall pressure of 122 kPa and the maximum flow rate of 203 ul min-1 at 4 V by using deionized (DI) water as a working fluid. The EO pumps assembled with PANI:PSS/C electrodes showed much better overall performances than those made with the bare carbon paper and exhibited good long-term stability without substantial decay for 5 days of continuous operation even at a high potential of 4 V.

Influence of Nafion-Coating of Ag/Ag2O/C Electrodes on Long-Term Performance of an Electroosmotic Pump

“…The pump performance was measured using a microfluidics system, consisting of a digital pressure sensor (MPS3, Elveflow, France) and a flow sensor (MFS, Elveflow, France).1 Pressure and flow rate measurements were performed at 200 Hz using cDAQ 9184 (National Instrument, USA) and an in-house LabVIEW program. 1…”

“…Electroosmotic (EO) pumps have been proposed as promising candidates for wearable liquid-drug delivery devices owing to their low power consumption, stationary parts, and ability to provide relatively high pressure and pulsation-free flow. [1][2][3][4][5] An EO pump consists of a membrane electrode assembly structure as a core component, containing two flow-through conductive electrodes and a surface-charged porous membrane. Therefore, EO pump performance strongly depends on electrode type and membrane materials.…”

“…5 Advanced electrode materials have been extensively studied for use in EO pumps. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Most commonly used metal electrodes such as platinum (Pt) and silver (Ag) cause critical problems, such as gas evolution, poor flow control, and metal ion release into the electrolyte. 3,12 A gas-free EO pump using Ag/Ag 2 O electrodes was developed by Shin et al in 2011, with a flow of 5-30 ul min −1 under a potential range of 0.2-0.8 V. 2 When the identical Ag/Ag 2 O electrode was used for the anodes and the cathode, the EO pump could be operated at a potential lower than 1.23 V (where the electrolysis of water occurs) due to a very low oxidation-reduction potential difference (E redox = 0.1 V), thereby preventing the generation of air bubbles during the electrochemical reactions.…”