Control of the microparticle position in the channel based on dielectrophoresis

Abstract

We report here the control of the microparticles position within fluid flow based on its size by using dielectrophoresis (DEP) with a microelectrode array consisted of rectangular features with the different size of width and gap. 3 μm- and 10 μm-diameter particles were introduced into the channel with 300 μm height at 30 μl/min. An AC electric field (20 V peak–peak and 2 MHz) was then applied to microelectrode arrays to form dielectrophoretic fluid cage, resulting in a formation of flow paths with low electric fields on the arrays. The microparticles separately flow in line streams along the paths formed between the rectangular features of the arrays, the 3 μm-diameter particles mainly flow through the narrow path and 10 μm-diameter particles through the wide path. These results indicated that positions of two types of microparticles in the fluidic channel were easily separated and controlled using the n-DEP.