Abstract
In this study, we present a comprehensive review of polymer-based microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) electromagnetic (EM) actuators and their implementation in the biomedical engineering field. The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive summary on the latest development of electromagnetically driven microactuators for biomedical application that is focused on the movable structure development made of polymers. The discussion does not only focus on the polymeric material part itself, but also covers the basic mechanism of the mechanical actuation, the state of the art of the membrane development and its application. In this review, a clear description about the scheme used to drive the micro-actuators, the concept of mechanical deformation of the movable magnetic membrane and its interaction with actuator system are described in detail. Some comparisons are made to scrutinize the advantages and disadvantages of electromagnetic MEMS actuator performance. The previous studies and explanations on the technology used to fabricate the polymer-based membrane component of the electromagnetically driven microactuators system are presented. The study on the materials and the synthesis method implemented during the fabrication process for the development of the actuators are also briefly described in this review. Furthermore, potential applications of polymer-based MEMS EM actuators in the biomedical field are also described. It is concluded that much progress has been made in the material development of the actuator. The technology trend has moved from the use of bulk magnetic material to using magnetic polymer composites. The future benefits of these compact flexible material employments will offer a wide range of potential implementation of polymer composites in wearable and portable biomedical device applications.
Highlights
Over the past few years, there has been an increasing demand on the employment of flexible materials for various applications in biomedical field
The flexibility characteristic of polymer is beneficial in obtaining large and controlled structure deformation of the movable parts. These movable parts include diaphragm, pillars, cantilevers or the combination of pillars and movable structures [5,6]. This class of functional material plays very important role in the development of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) electromagnetic (EM) actuators, for example the microfluidic delivery system found in drug delivery, bio-cell preparation system and lab on chip [7]
Bute et al [121] reported that the flow manipulation and proper operation of the valve depends on thickness and percentage load of magnetic material in the membrane as well as dimensions of channel, chamber and membrane with respect to the location of outlet channels, while Nakahara et al [122] reported the use of photosensitive polymer composites for the fabrication of magnetically driven microvalve arrays in a μTAS (μ- total analysis system) stopping any flow of fluid
Summary
Over the past few years, there has been an increasing demand on the employment of flexible materials for various applications in biomedical field. Studies on electromagnetically driven MEMS actuators in the field of biomedical instrumentation are currently increasingly popular in which the improvements of the mechanical structures and the material properties of the movable part became the most interesting topics. The development studies were done in order to enable efficient and precise structure movement for control, manipulation or analysis purpose of the biomedical samples [12,13] These studies have led to the invention of flexible structure possessing sensitive interaction with magnetic induction, to be the most important mechanism in electromagnetic actuation. Some other disadvantages of those conventional MEMS materials, especially for the use as movable structure, are fragile and low flexibility These drawbacks make them less favorable compared to polymers.
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