3.6.3. Particle sorting
Particle sorting is an essential procedure for biological analysis and treatment (Gómez-Pastora, Karampelas, Bringas, Furlani, & Ortiz, 2017), diagnostic (D. Kim, Luo, Arriaga, & Ros, 2018), and targeted drug development (Antfolk, Kim, Koizumi, Fujii, & Laurell, 2017). Although the ICEK flow demonstrated its high capability for particle/cell manipulation, there are a few researches with the focus on particle/cell sorting. Zhang and Li (F. Zhang & Li, 2014) used a numerical model to simulate ICEO MVs around a pair of metal plates located on opposite sides of the microchannel walls and evaluated their ability to sort particles based on the applied electric field, polarizability and size of the particles. A similar model was developed to assess sorting of Janus particles (F. Zhang & Li, 2015), where the model tuned dominant determinants of the particle’s path through the microchannels (relative polarizability ratio and the size of Janus particles) to sort them by steering their streamline path to the desired branch outlets under DC electric field (F. Zhang & Li, 2015). There are still limited numbers of studies on ICEK particle/cell manipulation, especially for particle trapping and sorting. Further experimental works and characterizations are needed to demonstrate the inexpensive, easy fabrication, and high-performance ICEK particle/cell manipulation.