Controlled photothermal actuation of liquid release is presented using periodically arrayed hydrogel columns in a macroporous silicon membrane. Thermo-responsive hydrogel is mixed with Gold (Au) nanorods, and surface plasmon-induced local heating by near-infrared (NIR) light is utilized as an actuation method. We adopted theoretical modeling, which treats the hydrogel as a poro-viscoelastic medium to understand the mechanical and liquid transport properties of the hydrogel. To demonstrate the feasibility of the liquid release control using NIR light, we first characterized the temperature response of Au nanorod embedded hydrogel in the silicon membrane using its optical transmission behavior to confirm the successful device fabrication. Next, the liquid release characteristics from the structure were studied using fluorescent imaging of fluorescein dye solution while pulsed NIR light was illuminated on the structure. We successfully demonstrate that the liquid release can be controlled using remote NIR illumination from the presented structure. Considering the periodically arrayed configuration with high spatial resolution, this will have a potential prospect for optically-addressable chemical release systems, which benefit retina prosthesis interfaces.

在大孔硅膜中使用周期性排列的水凝胶柱呈现液体释放的受控光热驱动。热响应水凝胶与金 (Au) 纳米棒混合，并利用近红外 (NIR) 光的表面等离子体诱导局部加热作为驱动方法。我们采用了理论模型，将水凝胶视为多孔粘弹性介质，以了解水凝胶的机械和液体传输特性。为了证明使用 NIR 光控制液体释放的可行性，我们首先使用其光学传输行为对硅膜中金纳米棒嵌入水凝胶的温度响应进行了表征，以确认器件制造成功。下一个，使用荧光素染料溶液的荧光成像研究结构的液体释放特性，同时脉冲 NIR 光照射在结构上。我们成功地证明了可以使用来自所呈现结构的远程 NIR 照明来控制液体释放。考虑到具有高空间分辨率的周期性排列配置，这将具有光学寻址化学释放系统的潜在前景，这有利于视网膜假体界面。