| Description |
Electrical and Magnetic Field Flow Fractionation (ElFFF, MFFF) methods are two rapidly developing separation and characterization techniques using electrical and magnetic fields that have not been regularly applied to nanoparticle fractionation, separation, and characterization. Currently, several limitations characteristic of both techniques prevent them from being widely used tools in the separation of nanoparticles. In this work, we address the main limitations of both techniques and develop methods to enhance their separation abilities, and particularly their application to nanoparticles. Specifically, one order of magnitude improvement is obtained in the separation capability of the Cyclical ElFFF systems. It is shown that high resolution separations of 15 and 40 nm gold nanoparticles can be achieved by Cyclical ElFFF, for which the separation of particles smaller than 100 nanometers was not demonstrated before. In addition, the first particle based modeling of Electrical Field Flow Fractionation (ElFFF) systems is demonstrated for the first time. The developed particle based simulation code allows visualization of individual particles inside the separation channel, which leads to a better understanding of ElFFF operation and mechanisms. The outputs of the simulation code show good agreement with the experimental results. We have also fabricated a new ElFFF system and tested it with four different channel heights to investigate the effect of channel height on the separation performance of the ElFFF systems. It is also shown for the first time that ElFFF can be used for the separation of magnetic nanoparticles. In previously reported studies, magnetic field driven techniques were used for the separation of magnetic particles. However, in this study, it is revealed that an electrical field driven technique can also be used for the separation of these nanoparticles. A new magnetic field flow fractionation (MFFF) system was designed and modeled using both finite element and particle based simulations. As a change from current magnetic FFF systems, which use static magnetic fields, the new system uses cyclical magnetic fields for the separation of the particles. Finally, a novel passive magnetic microfluidic mixer is designed and fabricated which produces high efficiency mixing at the microscale, without need of an active actuation mechanism. |
