Dielectrophoretic based Microfluidic for nanoparticles “viruses” separation

The objective of this paper is to provide a microfluidic platform that may be useful to manipulate and characterize different submicron particles such as latex spheres as well as viruses (E.g. SARS-COV-2) through the concept of dielectrophoresis. The significance of recent research towards microfluidics-based diagnostic chips is apparent in health care, in our homes, and also very prominently in the fight against the COVID 19 pandemic: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a newly emerging human infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), early diagnosis and management are crucial for containing the outbreak. Here, we report a microfluidic device for separating mixture of different viruses. Using appropriate microfluidic channels, flow velocity, microelectrode arrays and voltage settings, particles can be trapped or moved between regions of high or low electric fields. The magnitude and direction of the dielectrophoretic force on the particle depends on the effective dielectric properties of fluid and particles, so that a heterogeneous mixture of particles can be separated to produce a more homogeneous population. In this paper the controlled separation of nanoparticles is demonstrated. With upper and lower electrode arrays, it is shown that different types of submicron latex beads can be spatially separated. The separation occurs because of differences in magnitude and direction of the dielectrophoretic force and drag force on different populations of particles.