title: A capillary dielectrophoretic chip for real-time blood cell separation from a drop of whole blood.
abstract: This study proposes a capillary dielectrophoretic chip to separate blood cells from a drop of whole blood (approximately 1 μl) sample using negative dielectrophoretic force. The separating efficiency was evaluated by analyzing the image before and after dielectrophoretic force manipulation. Blood samples with various hematocrits (10%-60%) were tested with varied separating voltages and chip designs. In this study, a chip with 50 μm gap design achieved a separation efficiency of approximately 90% within 30 s when the hematocrit was in the range of 10%-50%. Furthermore, glucose concentration was electrochemically measured by separating electrodes following manipulation. The current response increased significantly (8.8-fold) after blood cell separation, which was attributed not only to the blood cell separation but also to sample disturbance by the dielectrophoretic force.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shu-Hsien
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: DELBio Inc., Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ching-Yu
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan ; Institute of Nanotechnology and Microsystems Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan ; Center for Micro/Nano Science and Technology, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan ; Medical Device Innovation Center, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsien-Chang
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Chang