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Orthogonal optical force separation simulation of particle and molecular species mixtures under direct current electroosmotic driven flow for applications in biological sample preparation
Author(s) -
Staton Sarah J. R.,
Terray Alex,
Collins Greg E.,
Hart Sean J.
Publication year - 2013
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.201200553
Subject(s) - microfluidics , particle (ecology) , current (fluid) , diffusion , flow (mathematics) , materials science , mechanics , tracking (education) , volumetric flow rate , particle size , work (physics) , analytical chemistry (journal) , electric field , resolution (logic) , nanotechnology , chemical physics , chemical species , chemistry , chromatography , thermodynamics , computer science , physics , psychology , pedagogy , oceanography , quantum mechanics , geology , organic chemistry , artificial intelligence
Presented here are the results from numerical simulations applying optical forces orthogonally to electroosmotically induced flow containing both molecular species and particles. Simulations were conducted using COMSOL v4.2a M ultiphysics® software including the particle tracking module. The study addresses the application of optical forces to selectively remove particulates from a mixed sample stream that also includes molecular species in a pinched flow microfluidic device. This study explores the optimization of microfluidic cell geometry, magnitude of the applied direct current electric field, EOF rate, diffusion, and magnitude of the applied optical forces. The optimized equilibrium of these various contributing factors aids in the development of experimental conditions and geometry for future experimentation as well as directing experimental expectations, such as diffusional losses, separation resolution, and percent yield. The result of this work generated an optimized geometry with flow conditions leading to negligible diffusional losses of the molecular species while also being able to produce particle removal at near 100% levels. An analytical device, such as the one described herein with the capability to separate particulate and molecular species in a continuous, high‐throughput fashion would be valuable by minimizing sample preparation and integrating gross sample collection seamlessly into traditional analytical detection methods.