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One- and two-particle dynamics in microfluidic T-junctions

Santtu T. T. Ollila, Colin Denniston, and Tapio Ala-Nissila
Phys. Rev. E 87, 050302(R) – Published 30 May 2013

Abstract

Advances in precise focusing of colloidal particles in microfluidic systems open up the possibility of using microfluidic junctions for particle separation and filtering applications. We present a comprehensive numerical study of the dynamics of solid and porous microparticles in T-shaped junctions. Good agreement with experimental data is obtained on the location of particle-separating streamlines for single solid particles with realistic parameters corresponding to the experiments. We quantify the changes in the position of the separating line for porous, partially penetrable colloids. A prediction of the full phase diagram for particle separation is presented in the case of two successive particles entering a T-junction. Our results suggest the intriguing possibility of using the one- and two-particle T-junctions as logic gates.

  • Received 2 March 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.87.050302

©2013 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Santtu T. T. Ollila1,2,*, Colin Denniston2,†, and Tapio Ala-Nissila1,3,‡

  • 1COMP Centre of Excellence, Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University School of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 11000, FIN-00076 Aalto, Espoo, Finland
  • 2Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5B8, Canada
  • 3Department of Physics, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912-1843, USA

  • *santtu.ollila@aalto.fi
  • cdennist@uwo.ca
  • tapio.ala-nissila@aalto.fi

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Issue

Vol. 87, Iss. 5 — May 2013

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