title: Charge-based separation of particles and cells with similar sizes via the wall-induced electrical lift.
abstract: The separation of particles and cells in a uniform mixture has been extensively studied as a necessity in many chemical and biomedical engineering and research fields. This work demonstrates a continuous charge-based separation of fluorescent and plain spherical polystyrene particles with comparable sizes in a ψ-shaped microchannel via the wall-induced electrical lift. The effects of both the direct current electric field in the main-branch and the electric field ratio in between the inlet branches for sheath fluid and particle mixture are investigated on this electrokinetic particle separation. A Lagrangian tracking method based theoretical model is also developed to understand the particle transport in the microchannel and simulate the parametric effects on particle separation. Moreover, the demonstrated charge-based separation is applied to a mixture of yeast cells and polystyrene particles with similar sizes. Good separation efficiency and purity are achieved for both the cells and the particles.
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
authors: Cory
authors: C
authors: Thomas
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
authors: Xinyu
authors: X
authors: Lu
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
authors: Andrew
authors: A
authors: Todd
authors: Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
authors: Yash
authors: Y
authors: Raval
authors: Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
authors: Tzuen-Rong
authors: TR
authors: Tzeng
authors: College of Marine Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, P.R. China.
authors: Yongxin
authors: Y
authors: Song
authors: College of Information Science and Technology, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, P.R. China.
authors: Junsheng
authors: J
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
authors: Dongqing
authors: D
authors: Li
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
authors: Xiangchun
authors: X
authors: Xuan
mesh_terms: D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004560:Electricity; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010316:Particle Size; D011137:Polystyrenes / Q000737:chemistry; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000166:cytology / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D011137:Polystyrenes
keywords: Electrical lift; Electrokinetic; Microfluidic; Particle separation; Surface charge