Fig. 3: Customizable pumpabilities of soft electronic pumps.

a Generated pressure-voltage curve of different combinations of electrode designs and liquids. Pump 1: Electrode design 1 + Liquid 1; Pump 2: Electrode design 1 + Liquid 2; Pump 3: Electrode design 2 + Liquid 1; Pump 4: Electrode design 2 + Liquid 2. Where, Electrode design 1: 1-mm diameter needle, 3-mm diameter hole, and the 2-mm gap between them; Electrode design 2: 0.4-mm diameter needle, 1-mm diameter hole, and 0.8-mm gap between them; Liquid 1: Dibutyl sebacate based functional liquid; Liquid 2: Linalyl acetate-based functional liquid. A clearer description of the four pumps can be seen in Supplementary Table 2. The dielectric breakdown voltages of pump 1 and pump 2 are above 16 kV, while those of pump 3 and pump 4 are  ~14 kV. b Flow rate-voltage curve of different combinations of electrode designs and liquids. c Influence of series integration of multiple needle-hole electrode pairs on the generated pressures. d Influence of parallel integration of multiple needle-hole electrode pairs on the flow rates. e Switching response time of the soft electronic pumps. f Lifetime test of soft electronic pumps. g Performance comparison between the soft electronic pump, various commercially available pumps/compressors (Kamoer, EDLP600; SKOOCOM, SC3711PW; SYDSCI, DLP100-DC; EASYWAY, E8L-550W; OUTSTANDING, 750-30L) and a human heart, the details of the commercially available pumps/compressors can be seen in Supplementary Table 3. Pump 1 was used for c–f: Series/parallel use, response speed, and life are studied. In g, the most powerful Pump 4 was used.