A closed-loop controlled electrochemically actuated micro-dosing system

Abstract

In this paper a closed-loop controlled micromachined dosing system is presented, for the accurate manipulation of liquids in microsystems down to the nanoliter range. The applied driving force to dispense liquids originates from the electrochemical generation of gas bubbles by the electrolysis of water. The proposed dosing system comprises a micromachined channel/reservoir structure in silicon, capped with a Pyrex® cover on which a set of platinum electrodes is patterned. By adopting an interdigitated electrode geometry, the electrodes can be used for electrochemical gas generation as well as for the simultaneous determination of the total gas bubble volume, via an impedance measurement of the gas/liquid mixture in the reservoir. As this measured gas bubble volume equals the dosed liquid volume, active control of dosed volumes can be obtained. It will be shown that the cell impedance can be applied to accurately determine the generated gas volume and that by using this parameter in a closed-loop control system, dosed volumes can be controlled in the nanoliter range.