AC Dielectrophoresis Lab-on-Chip Devices

Abstract

D. Li (ed.), Encyclopedia of Microfluidics and Nanofluidics, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-5491-5, # Springer Science+Bus found in his classic text [1]. The advancement of microfabrication techniques and the demand of Lab-on-a-Chip technologies have led to the development of dielectrophoresis techniques for particulate, biological, and pharmaceutical applications. Dielectrophoresis was initially used to manipulate particles and cells in the micrometer range (1 mm to 1 mm). Since the early 1990s, nanotechnology has incorporated dielectrophoresis for the manipulation of viruses, DNA, protein molecules, and other nanoparticles (diameters of 1 nm to 1 mm). This essay provides a brief background of dielectrophoresis followed by its basic manipulation of particles using translation, rotation (electrorotation), orientation (electro-orientation), and traveling wave dielectrophoresis. This entry approaches design considerations and modeling techniques for the micrometer length scale; it does not specifically address all dielectrophoresis complexities at the nanometer scale. The majority of this entry deals with popular applications of dielectrophoresis including novel techniques to induce these forces; by no means does it cover all of the existing applications. For a more extensive explanation of dielectrophoresis, the reader is referred to texts by Jones [2], Morgan and Green [3], and Hughes [4], the latter of which addresses techniques for nanometer-sized particles. For most dielectrophoresis cases, the applied electric field is an alternating current (AC) signal, created with a common frequency generator.