Belinda Kwok New Jersey Institute of Technology NASA SHARP High School Apprenticeship Program mentored by Dr. Boris Khusid

 science of designing, manufacturing, and formulating devices and processes that deal with volumes of fluid on the nanoliter or picoliter scale  measure of the devices themselves range from millimeters to micrometers  examples include inkjet printers, blood-cell- separation equipment, biochemical assays, genetic analysis, and drug screening The behavior of fluids at the microscale is different from the macroscale in that the microfluidic systems are greatly affected by surface tension, energy dissipation, and electrokinetics.

 the study of the motion of particles  consists of four types of forces 1. Electrophoresis (well known) 2. Dielectrophoresis 3. Electrorotation 4. Traveling wave electrophoresis  the separation of ions or charged particles  particles move through a nonmoving liquid in an electric field due to an applied force

 method for sorting and separating particles in a liquid medium  depends on the polarization of the particles to move through the non- uniform electric field  two types 1. positive DEP - dielectric constant of the particle is greater than that of its surroundings 2. negative DEP - the medium is more polarized than the particle

Dielectric Filter Fluid Flow

Dielectric Filter Fluid Flow

Amundson, Marlys. “Nanoengineered Surfaces:Enabling New Technologies” UCLA Engineering July “Electrokinetics.” CFDRC CFD Research Corporation. 28 July Hughes, Michael Pycraft. Nanoelectromechanics in Engineering and Biology. New York: CRC Press LLC, Microfluidics. Whatis?com Tech Target. 28 July “Microfluidics.” Mst group and Olli Saksa. 28 July Purohit, Vishwas. “Electrokinetics : Overview, History and Theory” Buzzle.com 15 March July 2005