NANO-PARTICLES CONTROL AND SEPARATION USING DIELECTROPHORESIS-BASED MICROFLUIDIC PLATFORMS

Abstract

The goal of this thesis is to develop a microfluidic platform that can be used to manipulate and characterize submicron particles like latex spheres and viruses using the dielectrophoresis concept. Using appropriate microfluidic channels, flow velocity, microelectrode arrays and voltage settings, particles can be trapped or moved between regions of high or low electric fields. The magnitude and direction of the dielectrophoretic force on the particle depends on the effective dielectric - intrinsic - properties of fluid and particles. In the first proposed model, I demonstrated how nanoparticles can be separated in a controlled dielectrophoretic manner, as well as how different types of submicron latex beads and viruses can be spatially separated using upper and lower electrode arrays. I also developed a novel vertical array capacitance sensor to track cells and derive a variety of characteristics using the second proposed model. The findings support the proposed system's ability to levitate and track various types of biological cells (foodborne bacteria) using a capacitive sensor array.