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A centrifugal-driven spiral microchannel microfiltration chip for emulsion and deformable particle sorting
Yongchao Cai1, Zekun Li1, Cuimin Sun2
1School of Mechanical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi, China. usmlhy@iim.ac.cn.
Lab on a Chip
|July 9, 2024
Summary
This study presents a novel centrifugal microfluidic chip for efficient droplet sorting and enrichment. The lab-on-disk device achieves high recovery ratios and throughput, enabling precise manipulation of microdroplets for various applications.
Area of Science:
- Microfluidic Technology
- Biotechnology
- Analytical Chemistry
Background:
- Droplet sorting and enrichment are crucial in microfluidic systems.
- Lab-on-disk (LOD) platforms offer high throughput and ease of operation for droplet manipulation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate a centrifugal force-driven microfluidic chip for size-based droplet sorting and enrichment.
- To analyze the impact of design parameters and rotational speed on sorting efficiency.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a centrifugal microfluidic chip with spiral microchannels and microhole arrays.
- Employed mechanical modeling for kinetic analysis of droplet behavior.
- Conducted sorting experiments on homogeneous droplets and emulsions at varying rotational speeds.
Main Results:
- Repetitive sorting increased recovery ratios of high-concentration droplets from 35.3% to over 80%.
- Achieved high sorting efficiencies for 60 μm (99.4%) and 160 μm (88.9%) droplets with a throughput of 0.58 mL/min.
- Demonstrated efficient, non-cross-contaminating dual-sample sorting on a single chip.
Conclusions:
- The developed microfluidic chip provides an efficient method for droplet sorting and enrichment.
- The device is suitable for handling multiple samples without cross-contamination, advancing microreactor applications.
