A frequency-control particle separation device based on resultant effects of electroosmosis and dielectrophoresis

Abstract

Particle separation plays an important role in microfluidic sample preparation for various biomedical applications. In this paper, we report a particle manipulation and separation scheme using a microfluidic device based on low-volume/low-voltage electrokinetic frequency modulation. Utilizing a circular micro-electrode array, both electroosmosis and dielectrophoresis can be contributed to manipulate particles in the device by controlling the frequency of applied sinusoidal travelling wave signals. Theoretical simulations based on finite-element methods are employed to establish fundamental understanding of the developed scheme. For experimental demonstration, polystyrene beads (6 μm in diameter) and human promyelocytic leukaemia cells (HL-60) are used to validate the frequency-modulation effect. Furthermore, different diameter polystyrene beads (6 μm and 10 μm in diameter) are mixed to show potentials of precise particle separations (∼90% efficiency) by the reported frequency-controlled electrokinetic device. The developed technique can be exploited as an actuation scheme and particle manipulation method for microfluidic sample preparations of low ionic concentration samples.