The combination of flow elasticity and inertia has emerged as a viable tool for focusing and manipulating particles using microfluidics.Although there is considerable interest in the field of elasto-inertial microflui...The combination of flow elasticity and inertia has emerged as a viable tool for focusing and manipulating particles using microfluidics.Although there is considerable interest in the field of elasto-inertial microfluidics owing to its potential applications,research on particle focusing has been mostly limited to low Reynolds numbers(Re<1),and particle migration toward equilibrium positions has not been extensively examined.In this work,we thoroughly studied particle focusing on the dynamic range of flow rates and particle migration using straight microchannels with a single inlet high aspect ratio.We initially explored several parameters that had an impact on particle focusing,such as the particle size,channel dimensions,concentration of viscoelastic fluid,and flow rate.Our experimental work covered a wide range of dimensionless numbers(0.05<Reynolds number<85,1.5<Weissenberg number<3800,5<Elasticity number<470)using 3,5,7,and 10μm particles.Our results showed that the particle size played a dominant role,and by tuning the parameters,particle focusing could be achieved at Reynolds numbers ranging from 0.2(1μL/min)to 85(250μL/min).Furthermore,we numerically and experimentally studied particle migration and reported differential particle migration for high-resolution separations of 5μm,7μm and 10μm particles in a sheathless flow at a throughput of 150μL/min.Our work elucidates the complex particle transport in elasto-inertial flows and has great potential for the development of high-throughput and high-resolution particle separation for biomedical and environmental applications.展开更多
基金funding from the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No.860775the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No.955605+1 种基金the Swedish Research Council(VR 2021-05861)supported by the European Research Council through project StG-852529(MUCUS)。
文摘The combination of flow elasticity and inertia has emerged as a viable tool for focusing and manipulating particles using microfluidics.Although there is considerable interest in the field of elasto-inertial microfluidics owing to its potential applications,research on particle focusing has been mostly limited to low Reynolds numbers(Re<1),and particle migration toward equilibrium positions has not been extensively examined.In this work,we thoroughly studied particle focusing on the dynamic range of flow rates and particle migration using straight microchannels with a single inlet high aspect ratio.We initially explored several parameters that had an impact on particle focusing,such as the particle size,channel dimensions,concentration of viscoelastic fluid,and flow rate.Our experimental work covered a wide range of dimensionless numbers(0.05<Reynolds number<85,1.5<Weissenberg number<3800,5<Elasticity number<470)using 3,5,7,and 10μm particles.Our results showed that the particle size played a dominant role,and by tuning the parameters,particle focusing could be achieved at Reynolds numbers ranging from 0.2(1μL/min)to 85(250μL/min).Furthermore,we numerically and experimentally studied particle migration and reported differential particle migration for high-resolution separations of 5μm,7μm and 10μm particles in a sheathless flow at a throughput of 150μL/min.Our work elucidates the complex particle transport in elasto-inertial flows and has great potential for the development of high-throughput and high-resolution particle separation for biomedical and environmental applications.
