Continuous inertial microparticle and blood cell separation in straight channels with local microstructures

Area of Science:

• Microfluidics
• Biomedical Engineering
• Cell Separation Technology

Background:

• Fluid inertia, often overlooked in microfluidics, is crucial for particle and cell manipulation.
• Inertia-based methods offer simple, passive, precise, and high-throughput characteristics.
• Current inertial blood separation primarily uses spiral microchannels, limiting parallelization and throughput due to large layouts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel inertial microfluidic platform for continuous, sheathless particle and blood cell separation.
• To utilize straight microchannels with integrated microstructures for enhanced particle manipulation.
• To achieve high-throughput and precise separation based on size.

Main Methods:

• Developed a novel inertial platform using straight microchannels with embedded microstructures.
• Engineered microstructures to induce secondary flows, manipulating particle positions.
• Balanced inertial lift force with microstructure-induced secondary flow for deterministic cell positioning.
• Applied the platform for continuous, sheathless sorting of microparticles and blood cells.

Main Results:

• Successfully sorted microparticles and fractionized blood cells with high separation efficiencies and purities.
• Demonstrated deterministic particle and cell positioning based on size.
• Achieved high throughput processing of diluted blood at 10.8 mL/min using radially arrayed channels.

Conclusions:

• The developed inertial separation platform offers a viable alternative to spiral channels for high-throughput applications.
• Straight microchannels with microstructures provide better controllability for particle manipulation than traditional methods.
• This technology enables efficient and precise blood cell fractionation for various biomedical research needs.