Micropumps: Mechanisms, fabrication, and biomedical applications

As the rapid development of medical devices, micropumps have received increasing and widespread attentions for a variety of healthcare applications. The ongoing challenges for developing the micropumps for healthcare applications are the working mechanisms of the pumps, the device configurations, and the fabrication approaches. To address these challenges, this review would explore the fundamental principles and practical aspects of the micropumps, including the types of the micropumps, their working principles, the manufacturing processes for constructing the micropumps, and the related biomedical applications and commercial products. This review can serve as a resouce for the construction of next-generation micropumps, as well as a wide range of biomedical applications ranging from the disease diagnosis to drug delivery.