Performance impact of dynamic surface coatings on polymeric insulator-based dielectrophoretic particle separators

Area of Science:

• Microfluidics
• Biotechnology
• Materials Science

Background:

• Insulator-based dielectrophoresis (iDEP) is crucial for lab-on-a-chip devices, enabling particle separation and concentration.
• Previous iDEP studies primarily utilized glass microfluidic devices.
• Transitioning to polymer-based devices offers advantages in manufacturing, cost, and material customization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the performance of insulator-based dielectrophoresis (iDEP) in polymer microfluidic devices.
• To compare the efficacy of polymer iDEP devices with traditional glass devices.
• To investigate methods for enhancing the performance and reducing the power consumption of polymer iDEP systems.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of iDEP structures in cyclic olefin copolymer (Zeonor 1060R) via injection molding.
• Demonstration of biological particle differentiation using iDEP in the polymer devices.
• Application of a dynamic surface coating using Pluronic F127 to enhance device performance.

Main Results:

• Polymer iDEP devices fabricated via injection molding achieved performance comparable to glass devices.
• The dynamic surface coating with Pluronic F127 reduced the required electric field for particle trapping by an order of magnitude.
• The surfactant coating significantly decreased power demand and minimized Joule heating.

Conclusions:

• Polymer-based iDEP microfluidic devices are a viable and effective alternative to glass for particle separation and enrichment.
• The use of a dynamic surface coating with Pluronic F127 offers a significant improvement in energy efficiency for iDEP systems.
• These findings present an affordable and scalable engineering strategy for selective particle manipulation in microfluidic applications.