Effect of electrode geometry on dielectrophoretic separation of cells

摘要

In the large-scale cultivation of cells in a bioreactor,nonviable cells increase as time progresses.However,it is difficult to separate only the nonviable cells from the bioreactor.It is possible to discharge only the nonviable cells using a dielectrophoretic(DEP)filter;however,the separation speed is very low.In this paper,we discuss the electrode geometries in order to improve the separation efficiency of the DEP filter.First,we confirmed that DEP velocity depended only on nablaE~2 and was independent of the,electrode geometries.Based on this,its experimental equation was determined.Furthermore,the guiding principle for designing the electrode geometry was obtained through experiments involving a model electrode of the DEP filter.From these experimental results,the DEP filter electrode was optimized using the finite element method.