An in-situ filtering pump for particle-sample filtration based on low-voltage electrokinetic mechanism

• Published in: Sensors and actuators. B, Chemical Chemical, 2017-01, Vol.238, p.809-816
• Main Authors: Lin, Shiang-Chi, Sung, Yu-Lung, Peng, Chien-Chung, Tung, Yi-Chung, Lin, Chih-Ting
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Beads; Computer simulation; Devices; Electrokinetic microfluidics; Electrokinetics; Filtering; Filters; Filtration; Health care; Mathematical analysis; Mathematical models; Micro particle filtration; Microelectrodes; Microfluidics; Micropumps; Pumping; Sensors; Superposition (mathematics); Travelling wave electroosmosis
• ISSN: 0925-4005; 1873-3077
• DOI: 10.1016/j.snb.2016.07.147

•An electrokinetic pump with particle-filtering function is demonstrated.•Fluid pumping and filtration achieved by travelling-wave electrokinetic mechanism.•The particle trapping effect can be demonstrated in polystyrene beads (1μm, 6μm, and 10μm) and HL- 60 cells. Microfluidic preparation is one of important functions in miniaturized diagnosis systems. However, most of existing microfluidic devices require external driving sources which occupies the majority of system size and weight. To address the insufficiency, this work provides an active fluidic pumping and filtration mechanism by travelling-wave electroosmosis (TWEO). Based on superposition of TWEO and induced-chard electroosmosis (ICEO), our numerical simulations show particles are tend to be trapped within surface microelectrodes. As driven by TWEO, thus, particle pumping and particle trapping effect are controllable by the particle size and applied electrical potential. Experimentally, in our implemented devices, 6μm and 10μm beads are fully trapped with the applied potential larger than 0.75V. In addition, 91.9% 1μm beads flowed thorough as device driven at 0.75V and 82.3% 1μm beads trapped on surface electrodes as device drive at 1.50V. Finally, the HL-60 cancer cells are conducted to demonstrate the potential to handle a real-cell sample for a particle-filtration function in the developed device. The developed device provides a promising on-chip method to achieve the active filtering and pumping function with low-power characteristics for future miniaturized healthcare systems.