Light-driven flow control within the microchannel inside a hydrogel by utilizing metal microstructures fabricated by multiphoton photoreduction

In this study, we demonstrated the light-driven control of the flow-rate inside a microchannel within a temperature-responsive hydrogel by fabricating metal microstructures by multiphoton photoreduction. When CW light was illuminated onto the microstructures, significant alteration in the flow-rate was confirmed. The change in flow-rate is attributable to the light-stimulated deformation of the microchannel associated with the shrinkage of the PNIPAm hydrogel. This method allows for the spatially-selective control of the flow-rate simply via light illumination since the light absorbers can be fabricated at a targeted position by multiphoton photoreduction.