Issue 6, 2019

Gradient in the electric field for particle position detection in microfluidic channels

Abstract

In this work, a new method to track particles in microfluidic channels is presented. Particle position tracking in microfluidic systems is crucial to characterize sorting systems or to improve the analysis of cells in impedance flow cytometry studies. By developing an electric field gradient in a two parallel electrode array the position of the particles can be tracked in one axis by impedance analysis. This method can track the particle's position at lower frequencies and measure the conductivity of the system at higher frequencies. A 3-D simulation was performed showing particle position detection and conductivity analysis. To experimentally validate the technique, a microfluidic chip that develops a gradient in the electric field was fabricated and used to detect the position of polystyrene particles in one axis and measure their conductivity at low and high frequencies, respectively.

Graphical abstract: Gradient in the electric field for particle position detection in microfluidic channels

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
06 dec 2018
Accepted
01 feb 2019
First published
15 feb 2019
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Lab Chip, 2019,19, 1054-1059

Gradient in the electric field for particle position detection in microfluidic channels

M. Solsona, E. Y. Westerbeek, J. G. Bomer, W. Olthuis and A. van den Berg, Lab Chip, 2019, 19, 1054 DOI: 10.1039/C8LC01333K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements