Expand Horizons of Microfluidic Systems: An Inkjet Printed Flexible Energy Autonomous Micropump System for Wearable and IoT Microfluidic Applications

A novel inkjet printed flexible energy autonomous micropump system is proposed to provide actuation forces and open new applications for microfluidic such as smart skin and IoT. The broadband energy harvester is proposed to harvest near-field two-way talk radio at 464.5 MHz and far-field UHF RFID reader from 850 MHz to 950 MHz simultaneously. The near-field energy harvesting can support high power at certain time to overcome IC cold start and the far-field energy harvesting can harvest power all the time to maintain the function. The proposed broadband rectifier can be operated from 300 MHz to over 1200 MHz which equals to over 120% fractional bandwidth. The RF-DC conversion efficiency is about 50% while 20 dBm input power is used and the load impedance is 125 Ω. The duty cycle for the charging and discharging of the far-field energy harvesting is 13%. The proof-of-concept system is built and the micropump is driven successfully by both near-field and far-field energy harvesting.