Electrode-Based Dielectrophoretic Separation of Live and Dead Yeast Cells

This research investigates the electrode-based dielectrophoretic (eDEP) separation of live and dead yeast cells with diameters of 6 and 5 μm using COMSOL Multiphysics 5.6 software. Five electrodes are placed on one side of a rectangular microchannel with three inlets and three outlets. A non-uniform electric field is created inside the microchannel by applying an alternating electric field (AC) to the electrodes. Microchannel inlets include an inlet for injecting a sample fluid consisting of deionized water containing two species of live and dead yeast cells and two inlets for injecting deionized water as a sheath flow to concentrate the cells before reaching the area affected by the electric field. The study is conducted in two dimensions and the effect of various factors, including the electrical voltage applied to the electrodes, the frequency (f), the length of the electrodes, their distance from each other, and the inlet velocity on the efficiency and purity of cell separation is examined. In addition, the optimal conditions for achieving complete separation of live and dead yeast cells utilizing the proposed microfluidic device are presented as follows:  = 60 μm/s,  = 360 μm/s,  = ±4.35 V, and f = 3.18 MHz.