Evaluation of Isomotive Insulator-Based Dielectrophoretic Device by Measuring the Particle Velocity.

Many dielectrophoretic (DEP) devices for biomedical application have been suggested, such as the separation, concentration, and detection of biological cells or molecules. Most of these devices utilize the difference in their DEP properties. However, single-cell analysis is required to evaluate individual properties. Therefore, this paper proposed a modified isomotive insulator-based DEP (iDEP) creek-gap device for straightforward single-cell analysis, which is capable of measurement at a wide frequency band. The proposed iDEP device generates more constant particle velocity than the previous study. The insulator was fabricated using backside exposure for accurate forming. We measured the distribution of the particle velocity and frequency property, using homogeneous polystyrene particles to verify the effectiveness of the proposed device. The results show that the particle velocity distribution was consistent with the distribution of the numerically calculated electric field square (∇Erms2). Furthermore, the velocity measurement, at a wide frequency band, from 10 Hz to 20 MHz, was performed because of the long distance between electrodes. These results suggest that the prop-erties of various particles or cells can be obtained by simple measurement using the proposed device.

Insulator-based dielectrophoresis combined with the isomotive AC electric field and applied to single cell analysis.

We developed an insulator-based dielectrophoretic (iDEP) creek-gap device that enables the isomotive movement of cells and that is suitable for determining their DEP properties. In the iDEP creek-gap device, a pair of planar insulators forming a single fan-shaped channel allows the induction of the isomotive iDEP force on cells. Hence, the cells' behavior is characterized by straight motion at constant velocity in the longitudinal direction of the channel. Operation of the device was demonstrated using human breast epithelial cells (MCF10A) by applying an AC voltage of Vpp = 34 V peak-to-peak and frequencies of 200 kHz and 50 MHz to the device. Subsequently, the magnitude of DEP forces and the real part of the ClausiusMossotti (CM) factor, Re(ß), were deduced from the measured cell velocity. The values of Re(ß) were 0.14 ± 0.01 for the frequency of 200 kHz and -0.12 ± 0.01 for 50 MHz. These results demonstrated that the DEP properties of the cells could be extracted over a wide field frequency range. Therefore, the proposed iDEP creek-gap device was found to be applicable to cell analysis.

Analysis of the dielectrophoretic properties of cells using the isomotive AC electric field.

Various microfluidic devices utilizing the principle of dielectrophoresis (DEP) have been developed to separate, concentrate, and characterize biological cells; however, their performance is still limited by a lack of quantitative characterization. We addressed this limitation by employing a method capable of accurately quantifying a cell's response to an imposed field gradient. In this study, a simple method using a newly designed Creek-gap electrode was proposed, and the electrokinetic behavior of cells was characterized by DEP velocimetry under the exposure of an approximately constant gradient of electric field square established along the gap of the electrodes. Together with the numerical prediction of the electric field based on three-dimensional electric field analysis, the magnitude of DEP forces and the real part of the Clausius-Mossotti factor of cells were deduced from their movement. Results demonstrated that the proposed method was applicable to the determination of the dielectrophoretic properties of cells.

High-throughput separation of cells by dielectrophoresis enhanced with 3D gradient AC electric field.

We propose a novel, high-performance dielectrophoretic (DEP) cell-separation flow chamber with a parallel-plate channel geometry. The flow chamber, consisting of a planar electrode on the top and an interdigitated-pair electrode array at the bottom, was developed to facilitate the separation of cells by creating a nonuniform AC electric field throughout the volume of the flow chamber. The operation and performance of the device were evaluated using live and dead human epithermal breast (MCF10A) cells. The separation dynamics of the cell suspension in the flow chamber was also investigated by numerically simulating the trajectories of individual cells. A theoretical model to describe the dynamic cell behavior under the action of DEP, including dipole-dipole interparticle, viscous, and gravitational forces, was developed. The results demonstrated that the live cells traveling through the flow chamber congregated into sites where the electric field gradient was minimal, in the middle of the flow stream slightly above the centerlines of the grounded electrodes at the bottom. Meanwhile, the dead cells were trapped on the edges of the high-voltage electrodes at the bottom. Cells were thus successfully separated with a remarkably high separation ratio (∼98%) at the appropriately tuned field frequency and applied voltage. The numerically predicted behavior and spatial distribution of the cells during separation also showed good agreement with those observed experimentally.

Tuning the electrical property of a single layer graphene nanoribbon by adsorption of planar molecular nanoparticles.

In this study, a simple and fast approach of band gap formation in a single layer graphene nanoribbon (sGNR) is demonstrated by using hexaazatriphenylenehexacarbonitrile (HAT-CN6) as an adsorbate molecule. sGNRs were successfully synthesized through the unzipping of double-walled carbon nanotubes followed by casting HAT-CN6 in acetone solution to alter the electronic properties of the sGNRs. Then, the electrical property of a sGNR was measured using a field effect transistor structure and also by point-contact current imaging atomic force microscopy. The results demonstrate the formation of electron trapping sites with the nanoparticles and the neck structure of the sGNR near the adsorbed region of the molecule. Therefore, the charge carriers on the sGNR can only pass through the neck region, which works similarly to a narrow sGNR. Such a narrow sGNR has a lateral confinement of charge carriers around the neck region; hence, the device becomes semiconducting. The fabricated semiconducting sGNR could be widely used in electronic devices.

Enhancement of continuous-flow separation of viable/nonviable yeast cells using a nonuniform alternating current electric field with complex spatial distribution.

The variability in cell response to AC electric fields is selective enough to separate not only the cell types but also the activation states of similar cells. In this work, we use dielectrophoresis (DEP), which exploits the differences in the dielectric properties of cells, to separate nonviable and viable cells. A parallel-plate DEP device consisting of a bottom face with an array of micro-fabricated interdigitated electrodes and a top face with a plane electrode was proposed to facilitate the separation of cells by creating a nonuniform electric field throughout the flow channel. The operation and performance of the device were evaluated using live and dead yeast cells as model biological particles. Further, numerical simulations were conducted for the cell suspensions flowing in a channel with a nonuniform AC electric field, modeled on the basis of the equation of motion of particles, to characterize the separation efficiency by changing the frequency of applied AC voltage. Results demonstrated that dead cells traveling through the channel were focused onto a site around the minimum electric field gradient in the middle of the flow stream, while live cells were trapped on the bottom face. Cells were thus successfully separated under the appropriately tuned frequency of 1 MHz. Predictions showed good agreement with the observation. The proposed DEP device provides a new approach to, for instance, hematological analysis or the separation of different cancer cells for application in circulating tumor cell identification.