Characterization of trap geometry in flow through dielectrophoretic-microfluidic device for particle trapping

Dielectrophoresis, an electrokinetic technique can be used for contactless isolation and separation of micro- and nano-sized particles suspended in a fluid. We present a lab-on-a-chip microfluidic device based on negative-dielectrophoretic system to isolate particles based on their physical and dielectric properties. Effect of three different micro-trap geometries were studied experimentally for single particle trapping. A finite element model of the microfluidic device was developed and simulated to analyze direction and magnitude of dielectrophoretic force field for single-level particle trapping. These analysis of different shape μ-traps provide important insight on predicting trapping location, strength of the trapping zone and optimize geometry for high throughput particle trapping.