A Printable Thin Film-Based Digital Peristaltic Sticker-Pump for a Simple and Robust Integration into Microfluidics

A micropump is pivotal for routing and multiplexing fluids in microfluidic channels, especially for point-of-care diagnostic devices. In this regard, a simple and easily mountable micropump-platform needs to be developed to expand the applications of microfluidic devices. Here, the sticker type-peristaltic pump, called “sticker-pump,” is developed by incorporating an array of biocompatible polymeric bimorph actuators. The sticker-pump can be activated via digital input sequence to control the flow rate in response to the operating voltage and switching speed. Furthermore, the programmed digital sequence demonstrates the generation of pulsatile and continuous flows without any back pressure. The sticker-pump is further studied through a systematic characterization to validate the working mechanism of one sticker-pump (1-bit) and the flow rates (3.77–36.90 µL min⁻¹) attained by the combination of three sticker-pumps (3-bit) on microfluidics. Since the sticker-pump is all solution-processed, an inexpensive sticker-pump can be manufactured by scalable printing technologies.