Controlled molecular motion is a focus of considerable current interest from the perspective of developing nanoscale molecular actuators, sensors, machines, and motors. Integrating these functional molecules into polymers and gels to generate advanced materials has been a research goal of ours for some time.1 Functional materials based on photo-responsive polymers or gels have generated interest due to their ability to function as drug delivery systems, permeable membranes and microactuators. Light irradiation is a useful means of control because it can be applied instantaneously, with high spatial resolution and without physical contact. This offers the possibility of inducing dramatic changes to the bulk properties of a system by photonic irradiation. Recently, Vioux et al has pioneered a new area of material science incorporating ionic liquids (ILs) into oxide matrices to create functional solid-state materials.2 ILs are organic salts in the liquid state at ambient conditions and many cases possess properties such as negligible vapour pressure, high thermal stabilities and conductivity, tunable viscosities, and both hydrophobic and hydrophilic natures. For these reasons, ILs are attracting the attention of a growing number of scientists and engineers for a range of applications. The incorporation of photo-responsive gels with ILs, produces hybrid materials with many advantages over conventional materials. For example, through the tailoring of chemical and physical properties of the ILs (e.g. acid/ base character and viscosity) other critical operational characteristics can be finely adjusted. Therefore, we can tune the characteristics of the materials by changing the IL and so more closely control the photo-responsive properties of these novel materials.3, 4 Herein, we present our latest work on our photo-responsive ionogel as functional valve in a microfluidic device.5 (1) Byrne, R.; Diamond, D. Nature Materials 2006, 5, 421-424. (2) Neouze, M.-A.; Bideau, J. L.; Gaveau, P.; Bellayer, S.; Vioux, A. Chemistry of Materials 2006, 18, 3931-3936. (3) Byrne, R.; Fraser, K. J.; Izgorodina, E.; MacFarlane, D. R.; Forsyth, M.; Diamond, D. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2008, 10, 5919-5924. (4) Byrne, R.; Coleman, S.; Fraser, K. J.; Raduta, A.; MacFarlane, D. R.; Diamond, D. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2009, 11, 7286-7291. (5) Benito-Lopez, F.; Byrne, R.; Raduta, A. M.; Vrana, N. E.; McGuinness, G.; Diamond, D. Lab on a Chip 2010, 10, 195-201.