Experimental Study on the Performance of Light-Controlled Ion Drag Pump Based on PLZT Ceramic

TL;DR

This study designs and tests a light-controlled ion drag pump using PLZT ceramic, showing how light intensity and design improvements boost its performance for use in microfluidics and robotics.

Contribution

The novel integration of photoelectric and field emission effects in a PLZT-based ion drag pump with experimental validation of performance factors.

Findings

Optimizing electrode structure and fluid channel design improves pumping performance.

Increased light intensity significantly enhances the pump's efficiency.

The pump enables non-contact energy transfer and fluid transport via laser irradiation.

Abstract

Light-controlled ion drag pumps have attracted considerable interest in soft robotics, biomedical engineering, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) due to their non-contact energy supply and high spatiotemporal controllability of light. However, experimental studies on their pumping performance and influencing factors remain limited. This study integrates the photoelectric effect with field emission phenomena to design and fabricate a light-controlled ion drag pump using lanthanum-modified lead zirconate titanate (PLZT) ceramic. The light-controlled pump enables non-contact energy transfer and fluid transport via high-energy laser irradiation. A series of experiments systematically investigate its pumping performance and key influencing factors. Results indicate that optimizing electrode structure and fluid channel design, along with increased light intensity, significantly enhances pumping performance. This work provides fundamental design guidelines for the application of light-controlled ion drag pumps in microfluidics, flexible robotics, and microdevice thermal management.

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