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A continuing challenge in material science is how to create active materialsin which shape changes or displacements can be generated electrically orthermally. Here we borrow principles from hydraulics, in particular thatconfined geometries can be used to focus expansion into large displacements, tocreate solid materials with amplified shape changes. Specifically, we confinedan elastomeric poly(dimethylsiloxane) sheet between two more rigid layers andcaused focused expansion into embossed channels by local resistive heating,resulting in a 10x greater relative displacement than the unconfined geometry.We used this effect to create electrically controlled microfluidic valves thatopen and close in less than 100 ms, can cycle >10,000 times, and operate withas little as 20 mW of power. We investigate this mechanism and establish designrules by varying dimensions, configurations, and materials. We show thegenerality of elastomeric focusing by creating additional devices where localheating and expansion are generated either wirelessly through inductivecoupling or optically with a laser, allowing arbitrary and dynamic positioningof a microfluidic valve along the channels.

Elastomeric focusing enables application of hydraulic principles to  solid materials in order to create micromechanical actuators with giant  displacements