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Dean-flow-coupled elasto-inertial particle and cell focusing in symmetric serpentine microchannels

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Abstract

This work investigates particle focusing under Dean-flow-coupled elasto-inertial effects in symmetric serpentine microchannels. A small amount of polymers were added to the sample solution to tune the fluid elasticity, and allow particles to migrate laterally and reach their equilibriums at the centerline of a symmetric serpentine channel under the synthesis effect of elastic, inertial and Dean-flow forces. First, the effects of the flow rates on particle focusing in viscoelastic fluid in serpentine channels were investigated. Then, comparisons with particle focusing in the Newtonian fluid in the serpentine channel and in the viscoelastic fluid in the straight channel were conducted. The elastic effect and the serpentine channel structure could accelerate the particle focusing as well as reduce the channel length. This focusing technique has the potential as a pre-ordering unit in flow cytometry for cell counting, sorting, and analysis. Moreover, focusing behaviour of Jurkat cells in the viscoelastic fluid in this serpentine channel was studied. Finally, the cell viability in the culture medium containing a dissolved polymer and after processing through the serpentine channel was tested. The polymer within this viscoelastic fluid has a negligible effect on cell viability.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 51705257), the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project (Grant no. DP180100055), and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant no. BK20170839).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical, Materials, Mechatronic and Biomedical Engineering, University of Wollongong, 2522, Wollongong, NSW, Australia

    Dan Yuan, Qianbin Zhao, Shiyang Tang, Guolin Yun & Weihua Li

  2. School of Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    Ronald Sluyter

  3. Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    Ronald Sluyter

  4. Department of Chemistry, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Sheng Yan

  5. School of Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2122, Australia

    Ming Li

  6. Queensland Micro and Nanotechnology Centre, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, 4111, Australia

    Jun Zhang

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  1. Dan Yuan
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  3. Qianbin Zhao
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  9. Weihua Li
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Correspondence to Jun Zhang or Weihua Li.

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This article is part of the topical collection “Particle motion in non-Newtonian microfluidics” guest edited by Xiangchun Xuan and Gaetano D’Avino

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Yuan, D., Sluyter, R., Zhao, Q. et al. Dean-flow-coupled elasto-inertial particle and cell focusing in symmetric serpentine microchannels. Microfluid Nanofluid 23, 41 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-019-2204-3

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