Samin Akbari

Microfabrication and characterization of an array of dielectric elastomer actuators generating uniaxial strain to stretch individual cells

Cells regulate their behavior in response to mechanical strains. Cell cultures to study mechanotransuction are typically cm2 in area, far too large to monitor single cell response. We have developed an array of dielectric elastomer microactuators as a tool to study mechanotransduction of individual cells. The array consists of 72 100 μm × 200 μm electroactive polymer actuators which expand uniaxially when a voltage is applied. Single cells will be attached on each actuator to study their response to periodic mechanical strains. The device is fabricated by patterning compliant microelectrodes on both sides of a 30 μm thick polydimethylsiloxane membrane, which is bonded to a Pyrex chip with 200 μm wide trenches. Low-energy metal ion implantation is used to make stretchable electrodes and we demonstrate here the successful miniaturization of such ion-implanted electrodes. The top electrode covers the full membrane area, while the bottom electrodes are 100 μm wide parallel lines, perpendicular to the trenches. Applying a voltage between the top and bottom electrodes leads to uniaxial expansion of the membrane at the intersection of the bottom electrodes and the trenches. To characterize the in-plane strain, an array of 4 μm diameter aluminum dots is deposited on each actuator. The position of each dot is tracked, allowing displacement and strain profiles to be measured as a function of voltage. The uniaxial strain reaches 4.7% at 2.9 kV with a 0.2 s response time, sufficient to stimulate most cells with relevant biological strains and frequencies.

Improved electromechanical behavior in castable dielectric elastomer actuators

Non-viscoelastic castable elastomers are replacing the polyacrylate VHB films in the new generations of dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) to achieve fast and reliable actuation. We introduce the optimum prestretch conditions to enhance the electromechanical behavior of the castable DEAs resulting in large actuation strain. For castable actuator in which the thickness is selected independent of the prestretch, uniaxial prestretch mode offers the highest actuation strain in the transverse direction compared to biaxial and pure shear. We experimentally demonstrate that miniaturization hinders the loss of tension and up to 85% linear actuation strain is generated with a 300 × 300 μm2 polydimethylsiloxanes-based DEA.

Arrays of EAP micro-actuators for single-cell stretching applications

Mechanical stimuli are critical for the development and maintenance of most tissues such as muscles, cartilage, bones and blood vessels. The commercially available cell culture systems replicating the in vivo environment are typically based on simple membrane cell-stretching equipment, which can only measure the average response of large colonies of cells over areas of greater than one cm2. We present here the conceptual design and the complete fabrication process of an array of 128 Electro-Active Polymer (EAP) micro-actuators which are uni-axially stretched and hence used to impose unidirectional strain on single cells, make it feasible to do experiments on the cytomechanics of individual cells. The Finite Element Method is employed to study the effect of different design parameters on achievable strain, leading to the optimized design. Compliant gold electrodes are deposited by low-energy ion implantation on both sides of a PDMS membrane, as this technique allows making electrodes that support large strain with minimal stiffening of the elastomer. The membrane is bonded to a rigid support, leading to an array of 100×100 μm2 EAP actuators.

Stretching cells with DEAs

Biological cells regulate their biochemical behavior in response to mechanical stress present in their organism. Most of the available cell cultures designed to study the effect of mechanical stimuli on cells are cm2 area, far too large to monitor single cell response or have a very low throughput. We have developed two sets of high throughput single cell stretcher devices based on dielectric elastomer microactuators to stretch groups of individual cells with various strain levels in a single experiment. The first device consists of an array of 100 μm x 200 μm actuators on a non-stretched PDMS membrane bonded to a Pyrex chip, showing up to 4.7% strain at the electric field of 96 V/μm. The second device contains an array of 100 μm x 100 μm actuators on a 160% uniaxially prestretched PDMS membrane suspended over a frame. 37% strain is recorded at the nominal electric field of 114 V/μm. The performance of these devices as a cell stretcher is assessed by comparing their static and dynamic behavior.

More than 10-fold increase in the actuation strain of silicone dielectric elastomer actuators by applying prestrain

Silicone based dielectric elastomer actuators are preferred for reliable and fast actuation due to their negligible viscoelastic behavior. However, it is more challenging to achieve large deformation actuation using this class of polymers compared to the traditionally used VHB films. In this paper, we present theoretical guidelines for improving actuation strain of silicone based dielectric elastomer actuators. The electromechanical behavior of two different silicones is compared and it is demonstrated that the softest elastomer is not necessarily the best choice to achieve large deformation. Lastly, we have experimentally shown that uniaxially prestretching the elastomer with an optimum prestretch ratio enhances the actuation strain up to 10 times. Actuation strain of up to 80% on 100 × 100 μm2 microactuators is generated.