• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.139-146
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• 2009

A Multilayered microelectrode design is presented for large area travelling wave dielectrophoresis (TwDEP) separators. Most of typical TwDEP chip has been arrayed with 1000 electrodes in $20{\times}20\;mm^2$. However, there is a limitation of the device area that is critical in throughput, because when the area of TwDEP becomes larger, the resistance of microelectrodes for bus bar is also increased. In this paper, we successfully developed a novel TwDEP chip with extremely large area ($31{\times}25\;mm^2$) by a unique multilayered bus bar design. According to the resistance simulation of our microelectrodes, it is possible to realize a TwDEP chip with an infinite longitudinal length. We demonstrated the feasibility of our suggestion with latex microbeads and showed the potential of extremely high throughput separation with TwDEP technique.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.149-163
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• 2019

Under non-uniform electric field, a directional force along the electric field gradient is applied to matter having permanent or induced dipoles. The transport of particles by the directional force is called dielectrophoresis (DEP). Since the strength and direction of the DEP force depend on parameters, such as permittivity and conductivity of particles and surrounding media, and frequency of the applied AC electric field, particle can be precisely manipulated by controlling the parameters. Moreover, unlike electrophoresis, DEP can be applied to any particles where dipole is effectively induced by electric field. Such a DEP technique has been used in various fields, ranging from microfluidic engineering to biosensor and microchip research. This paper first describes the fundamentals of DEP, and discusses representative microelectrode designs used for DEP study. Then, exemplary applications of DEP, such as separation, capture and self-assembly of particles, are introduced.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.56-63
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• 2010

In this work, a dielectrophoresis-based particle-separation device is developed which is to be used to continuously separate particles in microchannels. We fabricated the particle-separation device with combining the benefits of electrode-based DEP and insulator-based DEP. The DEP forces are generated by an array of electrodes located in both sidewalls of a main channel. According to the magnitude and frequency of electrical signals, particles with different dielectric properties experience different DEP forces, and therefore, continuously move along different streamlines in the main flow channel without need of pre-focusing process. Based on this mechanism, we examined the performance of the device by controlling the trajectory of polystyrene particles. This device is applicable to the investigation of dielectric properties of biological cells as well as the continuous separation of biological cells.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.119-124
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• 2021

Isolation and separation of biological nanoparticles, such as cells and extracellular vesicles, are important techniques for their characterization. Dielectrophoresis (DEP) based on microfluidic chips is an effective method to isolate and separate the nanoparticles. However, the electrodes of the DEP chips are electrolyzed by the electrical signals applied to the nanoparticles. Thus, the isolation/separation efficiency of the nanoparticles is reduced considerably. Through this study, we developed a microfluidic DEP chip for reliable isolation/ separation of nanoparticles and developed a passivation technique for the protection of the DEP chip electrodes. The electrode passivation process was designed using a hydrogel and the stability of the hydrogel passivation layer was verified. The fabricated DEP chip and the proposed passivation technique were used for the collection and dispersion of the fluorescent polystyrene nanoparticles. The proposed chip and the technique for isolation and separation of nanoparticles can be leveraged in various bioelectronic applications.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.60-65
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• 2016

Purpose: The necessity for precise manipulation of bioparticles has greatly increased in the fields of bioscience, biomedical, and environmental monitoring. Dielectrophoresis (DEP) is considered to be an ideal technique to manipulate bioparticles. The objective of this study is to develop a DEP microfluidic device that can trap fluorescent beads, which mimic bioparticles, at the low voltage and frequency of the sinusoidal signal supplied to the microfluidic device. Methods: A DEP microfluidic device, which is composed of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) channels and interdigitated electrode networks, is fabricated to trap fluorescent beads. The geometry of the interdigitated electrodes is determined through computational simulation. To determine the optimum voltage and frequency of the sinusoidal signal supplied to the device, the experiments of trapping beads are conducted at various combinations of voltage and frequency. The performance of the DEP microfluidic device is evaluated by investigating the correlation between fluorescent intensities and bead concentrations. Results: The optimum ratio of the widths between the negative and positive electrodes was 1:4 ($20:80{\mu}m$) at a gap of $20{\mu}m$ between the two electrodes. The DEP electrode networks were fabricated based on this geometry and used for the bead trapping experiments. The optimum voltage and frequency of the supplied signal for trapping fluorescent beads were 15 V and 5 kHz, respectively. The fluorescent intensity of the trapped beads increased linearly as the bead concentration increased. The coefficient of determination ($R^2$) between the fluorescent intensity and the bead concentration was 0.989. Conclusions: It is concluded that the microfluidic device developed in this study is promising for trapping bioparticles, such as a cell or virus, if they are conjugated to beads, and their concentration is quantified.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.261-264
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• 2009

We present a three-dimensional (3D) particle focusing channel using the positive dielectrophoresis (pDEP) guided by a dielectric structure between two planar electrodes. The dielectric structure between two planar electrodes induces the maximum electric field at the center of the microchannel, and particles are focused to the center of the microchannel by pDEP as they flow from the single sample injection port. Compared to the previous 3D particle focusing methods, the present device achieves the simple and effective particle focusing function without any additional fluidic ports and top electrodes. In the experimental study, approximately 90 % focusing efficiency were achieved within the focusing length of 2mm, on both x-z plane (top-view) and y-z plane (side-view) for $2{\mu}m$-diameter polystyrene (PS) bead at the applied voltage over 15 Vp-p (square wave) and at the flow rate below 0.01 ${\mu}l$/min. The present 3D particle focusing channel results in a simple particle focusing method suitable for use in integrated microbiochemical analysis system.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.29 no.1 s.232
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• pp.53-58
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• 2005

We present a high-throughput continuous cell separation chip using hydrodynamic dielectrophoresis (DEP) process. The continuous cell separation chip uses three planar electrodes in a separation channel, where the positive DEP cells are moved away from the central streamline while the negative DEP cells remain in the central streamline. In the experimental study, we use the mixture of viable (live) and nonviable (dead) yeast cells in order to obtain the continuous cell separation conditions. For the conditions of the electric fields frequency of 5MHz and the medium conductivity of $5{\mu}S/cm$, the fabricated chip performs a continuous separation of the yeast cell mixture at the varying flow-rate in the range of $0.1{\sim}{\mu{\ell}/min$.; thereby, resulting in the purity ranges of $95.9{\sim}97.3\%\;and\;64.5{\sim}74.3\%$ respectively for the viable and nonviable yeast cells. present chip demonstrates the constant cell separation performance for varying mixture flow-rates.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2009

This paper presents the optimal shape of microelectrode that generates dielectrophoretic(DEP) force to separate particles in homogeneous medium. The principle of the particles sorting is based on the use of the relative strengths of negative DEP (nDEP) and drag forces, as in a general DEP-activated cell sorter (DACS). To numerically calculate the DEP force and drag force, the simulation is implemented in MATLAB 7.0. The properties of particles, which are used in simulation, are similarly selected as those of cells to apply cell separation. The most optimized shape of electrode is selected by numerical simulation according to a variety of electrode shape such as rectangle, trapezoidal, and right-triangle. Through, in addition, parameter study, we found that applied frequency is more significant factor on the separation than various parameters, such as applied voltage and permittivity of medium, that decide on the strength of DEP force.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.189-196
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• 2013

Dielectrophoresis(DEP) is useful in manipulation and separation of micro-sized particles including biological samples such as bacteria, blood cells, and cancer cells in a micro-fluidic device. Especially, those separation and manipulation techniques using DEP in combination of micro fabrication technique have been researched more and more. Recently, it is revealed that a window structure of insulating layer in microfluidic DEP chip is key role in trap of micro-particles around the window structure. However, the trap phenomenon-driven by DEP force gradient did not fully understand and is still illusive. In this study, we characterize the trap mechanism and efficiency with different shapes of window in a microfluidic DEP chip. To do this characterization, we fabricated 4 different windows shapes such as rhombus, circle, squares, and hexagon inside a micro-fluidic chip, and performed micro-sized particles manipulation experiments as varying the frequency and voltage of AC signal. Moreover, the numerical simulation with the same parameters that were used in the experiment was also performed in order to compare the simulation results and the experimental results. Those comparison shows that both results are closely matched. This study may be helpful in design and development of microfluidic DEP chip for trapping micro-scaled biological particle.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.1535-1538
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• 2005

We present a mass productive and reproducible assembly technique of a single bundle of single-walled carbon nanotubes (sb-SWNTs) using dielectrophoresis (DEP). Gold electrodes with 10 gaps made via microlithography were used to align the carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The magnitude and type of applied electric field were investigated to verify their effects on CNT assembly. The optimum assembling conditions in which sb-SWNTs could be positioned at a desired site were experimentally identified, and the characteristics of the assembled sb-SWNTs were evaluated from AFM, Raman spectroscopy, and I-V curve. This assembly method has potential for applications such as gas sensors or electronic devices.