Continuous blood cell separation using a dielectrophoretic virtual pillar array

We present continuous blood cell separation using a virtual pillar array induced by negative dielectrophoretic forces. The present cell separation method reduces particle clogging caused by microstructures. Experimental study verifies the clogging-free size-dependent blood cell separation feasibility using diluted whole blood. The separation positions of red blood cells (RBCs) and white blood cells (WBCs) are measured as 17.3plusmn150 mum and 585plusmn62 mum, respectively, at the conditions of the 20Vpp(peak-to-peak voltage) 500 kHz square wave input signal, the net flow rate of 0.2 muml/min, and the buffer conductivity of 0.5 S/m. Therefore, the present method has potential to apply in biological separations where we suffer due to the clogging.