High‐efficiency extraction of target particles in viscoelastic contraction–expansion microchannels

Abstract

AbstractThe efficient and precise extraction of target particles is a crucial prerequisite for achieving accurate detection and analysis in microfluidic cell analysis. In this study, a symmetrical contraction–expansion microchannel with sheath flow was designed, aiming to extract target larger particles from particles of different sizes within the channel. This paper conducted numerical simulations to investigate the three‐dimensional migration mechanisms of particles and performed experimental studies to examine the separation performance of particles with different sizes under varying flow rate ratios and different numbers of contraction–expansion structures. The experimental results indicate that at moderate sample flow rates and higher flow rate ratios, microchannels with fewer contraction–expansion structures are likely to achieve better performance in extracting target particles compared to microchannels with a greater number of these structures. Our work advances the application of viscoelastic contraction–expansion microchannels in particle separation. This device is easy to set up in parallel and significantly enhances throughput, providing an accurate and efficient solution for future particle separation applications.