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Negative dielectrophoresis‐based particle separation by size in a serpentine microchannel
Author(s) -
Church Christopher,
Zhu Junjie,
Xuan Xiangchun
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
electrophoresis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.666
H-Index - 158
eISSN - 1522-2683
pISSN - 0173-0835
DOI - 10.1002/elps.201000396
Subject(s) - dielectrophoresis , microchannel , microfluidics , materials science , particle (ecology) , electric field , particle size , nanotechnology , mechanics , chemical engineering , physics , engineering , quantum mechanics , geology , oceanography
Dielectrophoresis has been widely used to focus, trap, concentrate, and sort particles in microfluidic devices. This work demonstrates a continuous separation of particles by size in a serpentine microchannel using negative dielectrophoresis. Depending on the magnitude of the turn‐induced dielectrophoretic force, particles travelling electrokinetically through a serpentine channel either migrate toward the centerline or bounce between the two sidewalls. These distinctive focusing and bouncing phenomena are utilized to implement a dielectrophoretic separation of 1 and 3 μm polystyrene particles under a DC‐biased AC electric field of 880 V/cm on average. The particle separation process in the entire microchannel is simulated by a numerical model.