electroosmotic pumps

[frenchero]

Hi!
This is about electrosmotic micropumps. I don't understand why there is always a reservoir and what is the point of this reservoir on the pumps?
Can someone explain it to me?

thank you!

[MATLABdude]

Electroosmotic flow is just the mechanism used to transfer a volume of liquid from point A to point B. Electroosmotic pumps use this principle to pump fluid into a microchannel or another chamber. You still need to provide the liquid that gets moved, which is why you'd need a reservoir of some sort, even if you just pipette stuff into the 'reservoir'.