Abstract
This paper reports the fabrication and testing of a helical cell separator that uses insulator-based dielectrophoresis as the driving force of its separation. The helical channel shape’s main advantage is its constant curvature radius which generates a constant electric field gradient. The presented separator was fabricated by extruding a sacrificial ink on rotating spindles using a computer-controlled robot. After being assembled, connected to the reservoir and encapsulated in epoxy resin, the ink was removed to create a helical microchannel. The resulting device was tested by circulating polystyrene microbeads of 4 and 10 μm diameter through its channel using a voltage of 900 VDC. The particles were separated with efficiencies of 94.0% and 92.5%, respectively. However, roughness in some parts of the channel and connections that had larger diameters compared to the channel created local electric field gradients which, doubtless, hindered separation. It is a promising device that could lead the way toward portable and affordable medical devices.
Highlights
Cell separation is an essential part of the sample preparation prior to medical testing, as in the case of the concentration and separation of erythrocytes from other blood for the detection of malaria [1]
How to cite this paper: Guérin, N., Lévesque, M. and Therriault, D. (2014) Helical Dielectrophoretic Particle Separator Fabricated by Conformal Spindle Printing
Different insulator-based dielectrophoresis (iDEP)-based separator shapes have been proposed such as an insulating hurdle [6], a serpentine [7] and a planar spiral shape [8]
Summary
Cell separation is an essential part of the sample preparation prior to medical testing, as in the case of the concentration and separation of erythrocytes from other blood for the detection of malaria [1]. Different iDEP-based separator shapes have been proposed such as an insulating hurdle [6], a serpentine [7] and a planar spiral shape [8] These devices were fabricated by a conventional microfabrication technique called soft lithography. These two-dimensional (2D) separators can efficiently separate many types of particles with a simple design. This article reports a new 3D iDEP particle separator relying on helical microchannels fabricated by conformal spindle printing. This method consists of a computer-controlled fugitive ink deposition on rotating spindles creating helices that are assembled and connected to reservoirs before being encapsulated into an epoxy resin. The fabrication capabilities and separation results are presented followed by concluding remarks
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