Electrode Isolation and Microfluidic Flow Effect Analysis on Dielectrophoretic Bioparticles Chaining for Flexible BioMEMS Application

Using a flexible bio micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) for the formation of bioparticle chaining has huge potential in various applications. One of the established methods is the use of electrical actuation for the forming of a bioparticle chain. The effect of direct contact (non-isolated) manipulation between an electrical source and a bioparticle affects the bioparticles. Essentially, the stability of the bioparticle chain with the introduction of the flow in the system is very important and crucial which warrants further studies for potential new applications. In this work, we have demonstrated the ability to form bioparticle chains either with direct contact (non-isolated) or non-contact (isolated) between bioparticles and electrodes as well as more importantly, the introduction of the flow into the system. We analyzed the feasibility of chaining, the chain length, and the direction under the effect of the electrode isolation as well as the microfluidic flow.