Streaming dielectrophoresis for continuous-flow microfluidic devices

This article describes the engineering development of a continuous-flow, selective particle filter/concentrator that works by a competition between dielectrophoresis (DEP) and electrokinesis (EK) in a microfluidic circuit. It was shown that a broad range of devices can used ideal EK and DEP in a variety of modes. Because these transport mechanisms are proportional to different powers of the electric field, the devices can be tuned at run time to select different classes of particles and even to switch flow regimes from streaming to trapping dielectrophoresis by varying the applied voltage. As observed experimentally and numerically, streaming dielectrophoresis is a novel flow regime for device development. It can be coherently reinforced within a patterned array to produce strong particle "depletion" and "enhancement" effects.