title: One- and two-particle dynamics in microfluidic T-junctions.
abstract: Advances in precise focusing of colloidal particles in microfluidic systems open up the possibility of using microfluidic junctions for particle separation and filtering applications. We present a comprehensive numerical study of the dynamics of solid and porous microparticles in T-shaped junctions. Good agreement with experimental data is obtained on the location of particle-separating streamlines for single solid particles with realistic parameters corresponding to the experiments. We quantify the changes in the position of the separating line for porous, partially penetrable colloids. A prediction of the full phase diagram for particle separation is presented in the case of two successive particles entering a T-junction. Our results suggest the intriguing possibility of using the one- and two-particle T-junctions as logic gates.
authors.affiliation: COMP Centre of Excellence, Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University School of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 11000, FIN-00076 Aalto, Espoo, Finland. santtu.ollila@aalto.fi
authors.forename: Santtu T T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Ollila
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Denniston
authors.forename: Tapio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ala-Nissila
mesh_terms: D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010316:Particle Size
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids