ELECTRO-KINETIC MICROFLUIDIC

DEVICES
Presentation made in partial fulfilment of
Microfluidics and its Applications (ME F423)

Jacob John
Rahul Salla
Srijani Biswas

PART A: INTRODUCTION OF
THE PROCESS MODEL

NOVEL DRUG DELIVERY

SYSTEM
Key points:
Implantable drug delivery system
Part of an autonomous microsystem
Electroactive micro-well based

NOVEL DRUG DELIVERY

SYSTEM
Key points:
Implantable drug delivery system
Part of an autonomous microsystem
Electroactive micro-well based

WHY IMPLANTABLE DRUG

DELIVERY?
They offer several advantages over conventional oral or parenteral
dosage forms:
1. They allow site specific drug administration where the drug is needed
most
2. May also allow for significantly lower doses of the drug, which can
minimize potential side effects
3. Allow for sustained release of a therapeutic agent
4. Less burdensome than pills or injections
Reference:
Rajgor, N., Bhaskar, V., & Patel, M. (2011). Implantable drug delivery systems: An
overview.Syst Rev Pharm Systematic Reviews in Pharmacy,2(2), 91. doi:10.4103/0975-8453.86297

TYPES OF IMPLANTABLE
SYSTEMS
1. Passive
2. Active
Control over

Passive

Active

Total dose

Yes

Yes

Delivery timing

No

Yes

Dose rate

No

BIOCOMPATIBILITY OF THE
MATERIALS
The in vivo biocompatibility and biofouling of many of the fabrication
materials used here has been studied before (i.e. gold, silicon nitride,
silicon) in the context of similar microsystem drug delivery devices
Of these materials, silicon is the least biocompatible
But - can undergo a number of simple surface passivation processes, such as
silanation, to improve its performance.

Reference:
Voskerician, G., Shive, M. S., Shawgo, R. S., Recum, H. V., Anderson, J. M., Cima, M. J., & Langer,
R. (2003). Biocompatibility and biofouling of MEMS drug delivery devices.Biomaterials,24(11),
1959-1967. doi:10.1016/s0142-9612(02)00565-3

NOVEL DRUG DELIVERY

SYSTEM
Key points:
Implantable drug delivery system
Part of an autonomous microsystem
Electroactive micro-well based

AUTONOMOUS
MICROSYSTEMS?
Systems, enabled through microfabrication technology, that
function of their own accord with the ability to interpret and interact
with their environment.
One of the limitations of these devices, and all autonomous
microsystems, is that the power load is relatively large compared
with the amount of energy available from current battery technology.

*
Reference:
Chung, A. J., Kim, D., & Erickson, D. (2008). Electrokinetic microfluidic devices for rapid,
low power drug delivery in autonomous microsystems.Lab Chip,8(2), 330-338.
doi:10.1039/b713325a

NOVEL DRUG DELIVERY

SYSTEM
Key points:
Implantable drug delivery system
Part of an autonomous microsystem
Electroactive micro-well based

ELECTROACTIVE MICROWELL
Schematic representative section of
an electroactive microwell drug
delivery system developed here.
Inset: cross sectional view of the
system.

Courtesy:
Chung, A. J., Kim, D., & Erickson, D. (2008).
Electrokinetic microfluidic devices for
rapid, low power drug delivery in
autonomous microsystems.Lab Chip,8(2),
330-338. doi:10.1039/b713325a

OPERATION
(a) Stage 1: to electrochemically dissolve
the membrane a potential is applied
between the two upper electrodes.
(b) Stage 2: after dissolution to eject the
contents, the potentials applied between
the upper electrode and the lower one on
the PDMS.
(c) Magnified view of microchip from above
looking at the region near the membrane.
Pale yellow regions (membrane and Cshape gold features) are gold where the
polyimide layer was etched.
(d) An example of goldPDMS bottom
substrate.

Time lapse
illustrating
repulsion the
ejection of 1.9
mm fluorescent
polystyrene
microsphere
particles from
an electroactive
microwell.

Reference:
Chung, A. J., Kim, D., & Erickson, D. (2008). Electrokinetic microfluidic devices for rapid, low
power drug delivery in autonomous microsystems.Lab Chip,8(2), 330-338.
doi:10.1039/b713325a

Dispersion radius vs. time for

different applied potentials

Instantaneous front velocity as

a function of time

Reference:
Chung, A. J., Kim, D., & Erickson, D. (2008). Electrokinetic microfluidic devices for rapid, low power
drug delivery in autonomous microsystems.Lab Chip,8(2), 330-338. doi:10.1039/b713325a

Time required to completely

empty the contents of the
microwell as a function of
applied potential.
We have used 3.5 V for the
simulation.

Reference:
Chung, A. J., Kim, D., & Erickson, D. (2008). Electrokinetic microfluidic devices for rapid, low power
drug delivery in autonomous microsystems.Lab Chip,8(2), 330-338. doi:10.1039/b713325a

One of all autonomous microsystems, is that the power load is

relatively large compared with the amount of energy available from
current battery technology.

Reference:
Chung, A. J., Kim, D., & Erickson, D. (2008). Electrokinetic microfluidic devices for rapid, low power
drug delivery in autonomous microsystems.Lab Chip,8(2), 330-338. doi:10.1039/b713325a

CONCLUSION: KEY
ADVANTAGES OF THIS
MODEL
Reduced dosage time (from hours to seconds) over previous
diffusion based approaches
Very low power consumption, when compared to other dosing
systems, using as little as 20 mJ of energy per dose

ARGUMENTS FOR CHOOSING

THE MODEL
Electrokinetic microfluidic devices for rapid, low power drug
delivery in
autonomous microsystems by Aram J. Chung, Donn Kim and David
Erickson.
The drug ejection mechanism developed here exploits localized
electrokinetic effects
to control both the release time and release rate of chemicals
stored in independent
well sites.

MODEL GEOMETRY

DIMENSIONS:

Silicon wafer thickness = 500 m

Silicon Nitride layer = 200 m (both sides) (by LPCVD process)
Gold membrane = 100 nm thick
PDMS layer = 580 m
Base length of drug well = 760 m
Top length of drug well = 52 m

MATERIALS USED IN
SIMULATION
The boundary of the well plane is silicon.

The upper rectangular area is considered to be water for the

simulation.

 The liquid in the drug micro-well is taken arbitrarily as NaCl

(liquid).

INTERFACE AND GOVERNING

EQUATIONS
Transport of diluted species: The Transport of Diluted
Species interface is used to compute the
concentration field of a dilute solute in a solvent.
Transport and reactions of the species dissolved in a
gas, liquid, or solid can be computed. The driving
forces for transport can be diffusion by Fick's law,
migration, when coupled to an electric field.

FICKS LAWS
The molar flux due to diffusion is proportional to the concentration
gradient.
The rate of change of concentration at a point in space is
proportional to the second derivative of concentration with space.

GOVERNING EQUATIONS

For a species i,
: Molar flux
: Diffusion Coefficient
: Concentration
: Source or Sink of quantity

The driving potential field due to the potential difference applied

(3.5V)

MESHING:
Name

Value

Maximum element size

5.0E-5

Minimum element size

1.88E-7

Curvature factor

0.25

Maximum element growth

rate

1.2

Predefined size

Extra fine

SOLUTION:
After the dissolution of the membrane

After 5 seconds

AFTER 25,45,105 AND 140 SECONDS RESPECTIVELY

VIDEO:

GRAPH:

PART C: IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE BENCHMARK MODEL

DRAWBACKS OF THE
BENCHMARK MODEL
The dissolution of the gold membrane on top of the pyramidal
microwell is not economically feasible.
Once the gold membrane seal is dissolved, it cannot be reused.
Hence the entire
contents of the microwell have to delivered at once.

IMPROVEMENT:

COMB ELECTRODE ACTUATOR

Comb electrode actuators are linear motors that utilize

electrostatic forces that act
between two metal combs.
The forces developed by the motor is the force between the two
combs, (which
increases with voltage difference, the number of comb teeth and
the length of the
teeth).
The electrostatic force decreases as the distance between the
combs are increased.
The combs are arranged so that they never touch ( because then
there would be no
voltage difference). Typically the teeth are arranged so that they
can slide past one

Comb Electrode Actuators are fabricated by polysilicon surface

micromachining techniques using a one-mask fabrication process.

Optical microscope image of the area near a brass coated comb shaped electrode in a vibrating MEMS device

Comb-drive actuators for large displacements,Rob Legtenberg,A W GroeneveldandM Elwenspoek.Journal of Micromechanics and
Microengineering,Volume 6,Number 3

GEOMETRY:
The thickness of the silicon wafer defines the volume of the micro
well as well the opening of the micro well.
The thickness of 500 mm of the silicon wafer with 52 mm opening
was decided based on optimization results of micro well volume
and release time of the drug.
The thickness can be changed based on requirement for specific
drug delivery cases.

PART D: MARKET SURVEY

AND CONCLUSION

MARKET SURVEY:
Implantable drug delivery system is an active drug delivery system which helps in
targeted delivery as well as controlling the dosage of drugs.
The market demand for implantable drug delivery systems is expected to be $27
billion by 2020.
The Drug Delivery Technology market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.5% from
2016 to 2020.

http://www.openpr.com/news/377744/Implantable-Drug-Delivery-Devices-Market-Worth-US-27-Billion-by-2021.html

CASE STUDY: DEBIOSTAR

DebioStaris an innovative implantable drug delivery technology for
the sustained delivery of pharmaceutical compounds.

By use of a perfectly controlled nanoporous membrane, the drug

can be delivered from an implantable system over several weeks to
several months. The delivery profile can be tailored to specific
pharmacokinetic requirements by modification of the size as well as
the thickness of the membrane. Additional surface chemistry can
be added to the membrane in order to delay the delivery over a
prolonged period of time.

The membrane is fully biocompatible and can be used for a long

term, allowing its use in "refillable" as well as "single use"
implantable systems.

MARKET STUDY
Debiotech is a swiss company which has many micro and nono tech
based products like
nano-pump, debiostar, nanocoating, microneedles etc.
Information on many interesting products and projects are displayed on
the website of Debiotech. Interested people can visit
http://www.debiotech.com/newsite/page/index.php?page=home , for
more information.
Debiotech performsR&D based on breakthrough discoveries on
Artificial Organs, micro- and nano-technology,Drug Delivery Systems,
Diagnostics and Medical Devicesin anindependententrepreneurial
environmentwhich permits rapid decision making.

CONCLUSIONS:
By 2020, MEMS based implantable drug delivery systems are
going to be the main mode of drug delivery.
The advantages of implantable drug delivery systems are, the
ability to autonomously deliver very precise doses, either
periodically or in response to a sensor event, delivery speed and
microscopic localization.
These systems have relatively simple construction and require low
voltage electrical actuation as opposed to mechanical pumping.

But the main drawback of the benchmark model chosen was the high
cost involved in its manufacturing due to the deposition of gold
membrane.
One possible solution to this problem would be the use of comb
electrode actuator to open and close the valve. Not only does it
reduce the production cost, it also helps in reusing the micro-well.
Major advances in the field of MEMS are taking place which will help
in reducing the cost of these devices so that it can replace the archaic
passive implantable drug delivery systems.

THANK YOU