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Acceleration of absolute negative mobility
Author(s) -
Regtmeier Jan,
Grauwin Sebastian,
Eichhorn Ralf,
Reimann Peter,
Anselmetti Dario,
Ros Alexandra
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of separation science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.72
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1615-9314
pISSN - 1615-9306
DOI - 10.1002/jssc.200600546
Subject(s) - microfluidics , brownian motion , mechanics , acceleration , particle (ecology) , sorting , micrometer , spheres , nonlinear system , materials science , nanotechnology , physics , classical mechanics , optics , computer science , oceanography , quantum mechanics , astronomy , geology , programming language
Recently, the counter intuitive migration phenomenon of absolute negative mobility (ANM) has been demonstrated to occur for colloidal particles in a suitably arranged post array within a microfluidic device [1]. This effect is based on the interplay of Brownian motion, nonlinear dynamics induced through microstructuring, and nonequilibrium driving, and results in a particle movement opposite to an applied static force. Simultaneously, the migration of a different particle species along the direction of the static force is possible [19], thus providing a new tool for particle sorting in microfluidic device format. The so far demonstrated maximum velocities for micrometer‐sized spheres are slow, i. e. , in the order of 10 nm per second. Here, we investigate numerically, how maximum ANM velocities can be significantly accelerated by a careful adjustment of the post size and shape. Based on this numerical analysis, a post design is developed and tested in a microfluidic device made of PDMS. The experiment reveals an order of magnitude increase in velocity.