Effect of Microfluidic Rectangular Microelectrode Geometry on Bioparticles Manipulation in Dielectrophoretic Application

Microfluidic
cell manipulation techniques have been continually developed and integrated
into miniature chips as a so-called lab-on-a-chip (LOC) platform for
high-throughput bioassays. Among the various mechanisms of bioparticles
manipulation by electrically induced forces, dielectrophoresis (DEP) has been
regarded as the most promising technique utilized in microfluidic systems. Into
the micro- to nano-scale level of DEP configuration, the common challenges of
undesirable side effects such as electrohydrodynamic effects, joule heating,
and electrolysis that may occur in the microfluidic system has always been a
hurdle that would severely limit the DEP performance. A simulation study was
performed on the versatile capabilities of designed rectangular type of
dielectrophoresis microelectrodes geometry configuration to manipulate, trap,
and characterize bioparticles suspended in the liquid medium. By using this
geometry, the performance of this rectangular microelectrode
geometry was studied, and an attempt was made to characterize this
microelectrode design pattern for different bioassay functions, as well as to
provide microelectrode design information for DEP device enhancement were
investigated.