Modeling and analysis of a novel approach for particle separation using time-varying amplitude dielectrophoresis

Abstract

Modeling and simulation results for micro-scale particle separation based on time-varying amplitude dielectrophoresis is presented. As an example, we demonstrate how a sawtooth signal can be implemented to sort particles in a heterogeneous polystyrene population by tuning the signal parameters such as the signal period. The modeling analysis predicts polystyrene microsphere sorting with a minimum size difference of 1 μm in diameter. The presented platform is a step forward towards realizing advanced electrokinetic techniques for particle manipulation for fully automated lab-on-a-chip applications.