A magnetophoretic microdevice for multi-magnetic particles separation based on size: a numerical simulation study

Abstract

Due to the outstanding properties, magnetic particles have been widely used as magnetic carriers and adsorbents in a diverse range of fields, such as biomedical diagnostics, food safety, and environmental monitoring, etc. Sorting different magnetic particles from each other based on size simultaneously can be very useful in multiple targets separation. To the best of our knowledge, this research firstly proposes the arc comb structure microfluidic (ACSM) chip for multi-magnetic particles separation based on size by magnetophoresis. And the parameters affecting particle trajectory and separation efficiencies, such as flow velocity, velocity ratio of the two inlets, the remanent flux density of the magnets, and dynamic viscosity of the buffer solution, were investigated by numerical simulations in this study. Particle magnetophoresis spectrum width [Formula: see text] and general separation ratio [Formula: see text] are put forward to characterize the particles separation efficiency. Under the recommended simulation condition, six kinds of magnetic beads were separated with a general separation ratio [Formula: see text] of 0.83 using the newly designed chip. And the separation ratio [Formula: see text] of the 0.5, 1.8, 2.5, 3, 3.5 and 4.5 µm magnetic particle is 100.00%, 98.18%, 66.36%, 97.25%, 97.27% and 96.36%, respectively. This numerical simulation study provides a theoretical basis for multiple magnetic particles’ separation before experimental trials and also facilitates the utilization and development of microfluidic chips in the future.

Keywords

• arc comb structure microfluidic chip
• magnetophoresis
• size-selective separation
• numerical simulation study