ELECTROOSMOTIC PUMP TECHNOLOGIES - THEORY

Electroosmotic (EO) pumps can drive electrolyte liquids with a wide range of conductivities and achieve significant pressures and flow rates in a compact design with no moving parts. These devices offer important advantages to more traditional pumping technologies in a variety of applications. For example, sample delivery and control of liquid streams is an important requirement in the development of so-called micro total analysis systems (microTAS) which aim to integrate multiple chemical analysis functions onto microfabricated chip systems. Other potential applications include microelectronics cooling and portable drug delivery systems. This work includes theoretical and experimental studies of electroosmotic pumps. Three major topics are addressed: analytical and numerical models for flow and pressure geenration, ion current and thermodynamic efficiency of porous-structure EO pumps; experimental studies and performance quantification of EO pumps built using porous glass frits and porous silicon membranes; and several practical design improvements for the control electrolytic gases generated by these pumps.