Continuous separation of non-magnetic particles inside ferrofluids

• Published in: Microfluidics and nanofluidics Vol. 9; no. 4-5; pp. 1003 - 1009
• Main Authors: Zhu, Taotao, Marrero, Francisco, Mao, Leidong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.10.2010; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Analytical Chemistry; Applied fluid mechanics; Atoms & subatomic particles; Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering; Continuous flow; Engineering; Engineering Fluid Dynamics; Exact sciences and technology; Fluid dynamics; Fluidics; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Magnetic fields; Nanotechnology and Microengineering; Physics; Short Communication; Magnetic buoyancy force; Particle separation; Ferrofluid; Ferromagnetic fluid; Nonmagnetic impurities; Experimental study; Microstructure; Microfluidics
• ISSN: 1613-4982; 1613-4990
• DOI: 10.1007/s10404-010-0616-1

We present a novel and label-free continuous flow non-magnetic microparticle separation scheme in a microfluidic device under static magnetic fields. The separation process is conducted inside water-based ferrofluids. We exploit the difference in particle sizes to achieve binary separation of microparticles with high throughput. We demonstrate size-based separation (1 and 9.9 μm, 1.9 and 9.9 μm, 3.1 and 9.9 μm) of microparticles with a minimum of 10 5 particles/h throughput and close to 100% separation efficiency.