Capillary pumping with a constant flow rate independent of the liquid sample viscosity and surface energy

We introduce and experimentally verify a capillary pump design that, for the first time, enables autonomous pumping of sample liquid with a flow rate constant in time and independent of the sample viscosity and sample surface energy. These results are of interest for applications that rely on a predictable flow rate and where the sample fluid viscosity or surface energy are not precisely known, e.g. in capillary driven diagnostic lateral flow biosensors for urine or blood sample, where large variations exist in both viscosity and surface energy between different patient samples.