Numerical Simulations of Combined Dielectrophoresis and Alternating Current Electrothermal Flow for High-Efficient Separation of (Bio)Microparticles

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Hao Jiang - , Qingdao University (Author)
  • Yalin Li - , Qingdao University (Author)
  • Fei Du - , Chair of Hydrochemistry and Water Technology (Author)
  • Zhaoguang Nie - , Qingdao University (Author)
  • Gang Wei - , Qingdao University (Author)
  • Yan Wang - , Qingdao University (Author)
  • Xiaomin Liu - , Qingdao University (Author)

Abstract

High-efficient separation of (bio)microparticles has important applications in chemical analysis, environmental monitoring, drug screening, and disease diagnosis and treatment. As a label-free and high-precision separation scheme, dielectrophoresis (DEP) has become a research hotspot in microparticle separation, especially for biological cells. When processing cells with DEP, relatively high electric conductivities of suspending media are sometimes required to maintain the biological activities of the biosample, which results in high temperature rises within the system caused by Joule heating. The induced temperature gradient generates a localized alternating current electrothermal (ACET) flow disturbance, which seriously impacts the DEP manipulation of cells. Based on this, we propose a novel design of the (bio)microparticle separator by combining DEP with ACET flow to intensify the separation process. A coupling model that incorporates electric, fluid flow, and temperature fields as well as particle tracking is established to predict (bio)microparticle trajectories within the separator. Numerical simulations reveal that both ACET flow and DEP motion act in the same plane but in different directions to achieve high-precision separation between particles. This work provides new design ideas for solving the very tricky Joule heating interference in the DEP separation process, which paves the way for further improving the throughput of the DEP-based (bio)microparticle separation system.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number345
JournalMicromachines
Volume15
Issue number3
Publication statusPublished - 29 Feb 2024
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMedCentral PMC10971919
Scopus 85189152629

Keywords

Keywords

  • Joule heating, alternating current electrothermal (ACET), bio- and non-bioparticle separation, dielectrophoresis (DEP), floating electrode, numerical simulation