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Abstract Controlled photothermal actuation of liquid release is presented using periodically arrayed hydrogel columns in a macroporous silicon membrane. Thermo-responsive hydrogel is mixed with Gold (Au) nanorods, and surface plasmon-induced local heating by near-infrared (NIR) light is utilized as an actuation method. We adopted theoretical modeling, which treats the hydrogel as a poro-viscoelastic medium to understand the mechanical and liquid transport properties of the hydrogel. To demonstrate the feasibility of the liquid release control using NIR light, we first characterized the temperature response of Au nanorod embedded hydrogel in the silicon membrane using its optical transmission behavior to confirm the successful device fabrication. Next, the liquid release characteristics from the structure were studied using fluorescent imaging of fluorescein dye solution while pulsed NIR light was illuminated on the structure. We successfully demonstrate that the liquid release can be controlled using remote NIR illumination from the presented structure. Considering the periodically arrayed configuration with high spatial resolution, this will have a potential prospect for optically-addressable chemical release systems, which benefit retina prosthesis interfaces.