A mechanics model for injectable microsystems in drug delivery

Injectable bioelectronic devices provide programmable drug volume delivery control via flexible electrochemical pumps featuring scalable designs for localized drug delivery experiments involving small animals and future drug delivery in humans, especially for life saving medication. A model for the drug delivery time is established from the ideal gas law, finite-deformation theory of flexible membrane, and microfluidics of the channel. It identifies two non-dimensional parameters involving the electrochemical, flexural, and microfluidic terms to control the drug delivery process. An analytical solution is derived from the perturbation method, which agrees well with the numerical solution. These results have relevance in design/optimization of bioelectronic devices used in localized delivery studies in small animals and humans where drug delivery time is an important parameter to ensure complete delivery within a required timeframe.