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Dielectrophoresis-based microfluidic platform to sort micro-particles in continuous flow

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Abstract

Non-invasive separation of particles with different sizes and sensitivities has been a challenge and interest for point-of-care diagnostics and personalized treatment. Dielectrophoresis is widely known as a powerful technique to sort the particles and (most importantly to) distinguish cells and monitor their state without the need for biochemical tags. In this paper, a dielectrophoresis-based microchannel design is proposed which allows for continuous particle sorting and separation under the applied AC field. It is also practical to implement the platform for monitoring cell behavior irregularities caused by certain diseases toward diagnosis and treatment. In this regard, the device employs dielectrophoretic (DEP) force exerted on the particles by only two electrodes with oblique arrangement in the channel. The electrodes are arranged with a bevel angle to the fluid flow direction but they are not parallel and therefore a gradually decreasing electric field is achieved along the channel’s width. As a result, the dielectrophoretic force, acting on the particles of different sizes, would also gradually decrease along channels width which renders the necessary distinguishing lateral displacements of particles for separation. Therefore, the particles with different sizes can be sorted in a continuous-flow regime and be received at multiple outlet reservoirs with no need to turn the electric field on/off. The presented device is fabricated and evaluated in the experiment to prove its feasibility. Afterward, using numerical simulations, we investigate the optimum design parameters in the presented device to enhance device efficiency for separating particles with different size ranges.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MEMS&NEMS Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Mohsen Hajari, Amirali Ebadi, Mohammad Javad Farshchi Heydari & Morteza Fathipour

  2. Device Simulation and Modeling Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Mohsen Hajari, Amirali Ebadi, Mohammad Javad Farshchi Heydari & Morteza Fathipour

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, K. N. Toosi, University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Javad Farshchi Heydari & Madjid Soltani

  4. Centre for Biotechnology and Bioengineering (CBB), University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Madjid Soltani

Authors
  1. Mohsen Hajari
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  2. Amirali Ebadi
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  3. Mohammad Javad Farshchi Heydari
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  4. Morteza Fathipour
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  5. Madjid Soltani
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Correspondence to Morteza Fathipour.

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Hajari, M., Ebadi, A., Farshchi Heydari, M.J. et al. Dielectrophoresis-based microfluidic platform to sort micro-particles in continuous flow. Microsyst Technol 26, 751–763 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-019-04629-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-019-04629-3

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