This work concerns the development of a novel actuator based on water electrolysis for pumping use inmicrofluidic systems. The electrolysis is performed inside a confined reservoir integrated on a PCB sub-strate which is connected to a microchannel. During the electrolysis process, the generated gases withinthe enclosed structure lead to a significant pressure increase which can be employed in order to move aliquid inside the microchannel. In order to demonstrate the device’s principle of operation, water is dri-ven through a meander microchannel structure which is connected at the output of an appropriatemicro-tank; the effectiveness of employing electrolysis as an actuating principle has been investigatedby monitoring the resulting pressure increase for a device with a larger reservoir. Furthermore, the oper-ation of such a device as a micro-pump was successfully demonstrated by extracting the resulting flow-rate experimentally; the obtained results from the first prototype are clearly promising.