This paper details the development of an integrated AC electro-osmotic (ACEO)
microfluidic pump for dilute electrolytes consisting of a long serpentine
microchannel lined with three dimensional (3D) stepped electrode arrays. Using
low AC voltage (1 Volt rms, 1 kHz), power (5 mW) and current (3.5 mA) in water,
the pump is capable of generating a 1.4 kPa head pressure, a 100-fold increase
over prior ACEO pumps, and a 1.37 mm/sec effective slip velocity over the
electrodes without flow reversal. The integrated ACEO pump can utilize low
ionic strength solutions such as distilled water as the working solution to
pump physiological strength (100 mM) biological solutions in separate
microfluidic devices, with potential applications in portable or implantable
biomedical microfluidic devices. As a proof-of-concept experiment, the use of
the ACEO pumps for DNA hybridization in a microfluidic microarray is
demonstrated
