Study of a 3D DEP-based microfluidic system for selective nanoparticle manipulation

Manipulation of nanoparticle using dielectrophoresis (DEP) is an emerging technique to separate particles solely according to their dielectric properties and size, used in different forms to control the position, their orientation and velocity, to filtrate chemical compounds contained in the gas resulting from combustion processes, etc. This contribution presents the results of a simulation study which aims to characterize the functionality of a 3D DEP-based microsystem for the selective manipulation of nanometric particles. The use of 3D geometry of the device represents an important improvement in the description of the behavior of a nanoparticle suspension subjected to dielectrophoretic forces. The numerical solutions of the electric potential, electric field, DEP force and particle concentration distribution for a typical interdigitated electrodes array are calculated using the COMSOL Multiphysics finite element solver. The presented results demonstrate that dielectrophoresis can be successfully used for the manipulation of nanometric particles and give important information for the optimization of the experimental setup.