Development of actuation system for artificial cilia with magnetic elastomer

Abstract

In this paper, we describe the development of magnetically actuated artificial cilia. Natural cilia are a highly efficient device that produces flow under a small-Reynolds-number state. There are two important characteristics of natural cilia; one is asymmetric movement, which is composed of effective and recovery strokes, and the other is the phase difference of a stroke in each cilium in an array that will produce a metachronal wave. In this paper, we propose an actuation system for artificial cilia composed of a silicone elastomer and multiparticle chains of a magnetic material. The applied magnetic field is controlled by rotation of a permanent magnet. This rotating magnetic field induced an asymmetric movement similar to that of a natural cilium. We also changed the orientation angle of multiparticle chains to control the phase difference of a stroke in each artificial cilium. This technique would help to realize metachronal waves of artificial cilia.