Probing the Origins and Applications of Atypical Capacitive Cell Phenomena in Microfluidic Impedance Sensors

This paper investigates the origins of an uncharacteristic capacitive phenomenon in cells that is highly frequency dependent and has remained unreported until now. This behavior was observed to be consistent in >10000 individual red blood cells probed using a microfluidic impedance sensor integrated with coplanar microelectrode structures and also repeatable across different devices. To better understand the reasons for this phenomenon, the system was extensively modelled using COMSOL Multiphysics and in our findings, we report a model that greatly agrees with our experimental observations. We also describe preliminary efforts in using this novel capacitive phenomenon to overcome long-standing limitations of traditional microfluidic devices in accurate cell position sensing and obtaining vital electrical parameters of cells.