Rapid and selective concentration of microparticles in an optoelectrofluidic platform

Abstract

We demonstrate rapid manipulation and selective concentration of microparticles using AC electrokinetics such as dielectrophoresis (DEP) and AC electro-osmosis (ACEO) in an optoelectrofluidic platform based on a liquid crystal display (LCD). When 10 V bias at 10 kHz was applied to the optoelectrofluidic device, only the 1 mu m-diameter polystyrene particles were concentrated into the projected LCD image patterns and closely packed, forming the crystalline structure by ACEO flow, while the 6 mu m-diameter particles were repelled by negative DEP forces. We have characterized this frequency-dependency of the optoelectrofluidic particle behavior according to the particle diameter. On the basis of these results, we can rapidly concentrate the 1 mu m-diameter particles and separate them from the 6 mm particles, by applying an AC signal of 10 kHz frequency. This novel technique can be applied to rapidly concentrate, separate and pattern micro-/nanoparticles in many biological and chemical applications.