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Dielectrophoresis in aqueous suspension: impact of electrode configuration

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Abstract

Dielectrophoresis (DEP) allows to moving neutral or charged particles in liquids by supplying a non-uniform electric field. When using alternating current and insulated electrodes, this is possible in conducting media such as aqueous solutions. However, relatively high field strength is required that is discussed to induce also an undesired Joule heating effect. In this paper, we demonstrate boundary conditions for avoiding this side effect and suggest a novel design of an interdigitated electrode (IDE) configuration to reduce the power consumption. Numerical simulation using OpenFOAM demonstrated that, when replacing conventional plate IDE by cylindrical micro-IDE in microchannel systems, the dielectrophoretic force field, i.e., the electric field gradient squared, becomes stronger and more homogeneously distributed along the electrodes array. Also the resulting particle DEP velocities were highest for the cylindrical IDE. The simulations were experimentally confirmed by measuring velocity of resin particle located at the subsurface of demineralized water. Surprisingly the fluid flow induced by electrothermal effect turned out to be negligible in microchannels when compared to the DEP effect and becomes dominant only for distances between particle and IDE larger than 6,000 μm. The well-agreed experimental and simulation results allow for predicting particle motion. This can be expected to pave the way for designing DEP microchannel separators with high throughput and low energy consumption.

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Abbreviations

AC:

Alternative current

CCD:

Charge-coupled device

CFD:

Computational fluid dynamics

DC:

Direct current

DEP:

Dielectrophoresis

eff:

Effective

ETE:

Electrothermal effect

EFG:

Electric field gradient squared

F DEP :

Dielectrophoretic force

IDE:

Interdigitated electrode configuration

nDEP:

Negative DEP

pDEP:

Positive DEP

\({\text{re}}[\tilde{K}]\) :

Real part of the Clausius–Mossotti factor

rms:

Root mean squared

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge German Research Foundation (DFG) for financial support (TH 893/9-1), and Yan Wang thanks China Scholarship Committee (CSC) for financially supporting his contribution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UFT, Center for Environmental Research and Sustainable Technology, University of Bremen, Leobener Straße, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Y. Wang, F. Du, M. Baune & J. Thöming

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  1. Y. Wang
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  2. F. Du
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  3. M. Baune
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  4. J. Thöming
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Correspondence to F. Du.

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Wang, Y., Du, F., Baune, M. et al. Dielectrophoresis in aqueous suspension: impact of electrode configuration. Microfluid Nanofluid 17, 499–507 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-013-1320-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-013-1320-8

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