Numerical Simulation of Dielectrophoretic Particle Separation

This study presents the numerical simulation and optimization of a dielectrophoretic bio-separation chip for isolating bioparticles such as circulating tumor cells (CTCs). The chip consists of ten pairs of electrodes placed with an angle of 10° with respect to the direction of the flow on the top and bottom walls of the channel. The spatially non-uniform electric field produced by the slanted electrodes applies a repulsive force on the particles that are flowing through the channel. The repulsive force applied by the top and bottom electrodes are balanced and the particles flow along the centerline of the channel. On the other hand, the magnitude of forces resulted from electric field in the x and z-directions deflects particles depending on their size and guides them towards different outlets. Numerical simulation of the particle-fluid transport was performed using an open-source software named OpenFOAM and the deflection of the particles within the microfluidic channel was predicted. The present computational domain considers the dominant forces such as dielectrophoretic and hydrodynamic forces as well as their effects on the design and operating parameters of the chip. The results show that this device is capable of separating various cells based on their size.