Issue 7, 2021, Issue in Progress
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RSC Advances

Simultaneous and continuous particle separation and counting via localized DC-dielectrophoresis in a microfluidic chip

Yongxin Song,a   Xiaoshi Han,a   Deyu Li,a   Qinxin Liub  and  Dongqing Li ORCID logo *c  

* Corresponding authors

a Department of Marine Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, China

b The 601st Institute the 6th Academy, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Limited, Hohhot, China

c Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
E-mail: dongqing@uwaterloo.ca

Abstract

A novel microfluidic method of counting the number of particles while they are separated by a localized DC-dielectrophoresis force was presented. Liquid flow from a wide microchannel forces the to-be-detected particles to pass over a small orifice on a side wall of the sample input channel. A direct current (DC) voltage applied across the small orifice and a strong electric field gradient is generated at the corners of the orifice for dielectrophoretic particle separation. Particle counting is achieved by detecting the electric current change caused by the being-separated particle near the sensing orifice. In this way, particles can be separate and in situ counted at the same time. Numerical simulations show that particle separation is achieved at the edge of the sensing orifice where the strength of the electric field gradient is the largest. Separation and counting of polystyrene particles of two and three different sizes with 1 μm resolution were demonstrated experimentally.

Graphical abstract: Simultaneous and continuous particle separation and counting via localized DC-dielectrophoresis in a microfluidic chip

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/D0RA10296B
Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 Dec 2020
Accepted
10 Jan 2021
First published
19 Jan 2021
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2021,11, 3827-3833

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Simultaneous and continuous particle separation and counting via localized DC-dielectrophoresis in a microfluidic chip

Y. Song, X. Han, D. Li, Q. Liu and D. Li, RSC Adv., 2021, 11, 3827 DOI: 10.1039/D0RA10296B

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