The separation of particles with respect to their intrinsic properties is an ongoing task in various fields such as biotechnology and recycling of electronic waste. Especially for small particles in the lower micrometer or nanometer range, separation techniques are a field of current research since many existing approaches lack either throughput or selectivity. Dielectrophoresis (DEP) is a technique that can address multiple particle properties, making it a potential candidate to solve challenging separation tasks. Currently, DEP is mostly used in microfluidic separators and thus limited in throughput. Additionally, DEP setups often require expensive components, such as electrode arrays fabricated in the clean room. Here, we present and characterize a separator based on two inexpensive custom-designed printed circuit boards (80 × 120 mm board size). The boards consist of interdigitated electrode arrays with $250\mu$m electrode width and spacing. We demonstrate the separation capabilities using polystyrene particles ranging from 500 nm to $6\mu$m in monodisperse experiments. Further, we demonstrate selective trapping at flow rates up to 240 ml/h in the presented device for a binary mixture. Our experiments demonstrate an affordable way to increase throughput in electrode-based DEP separators.

中文翻译：

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基于印刷电路板的高通量介电泳分离器

根据颗粒的固有特性分离颗粒是生物技术和电子废物回收等各个领域的一项持续任务。特别是对于较低微米或纳米范围内的小颗粒，分离技术是当前研究的一个领域，因为许多现有方法缺乏通量或选择性。介电泳 (DEP) 是一种可以解决多种粒子特性的技术，使其成为解决具有挑战性的分离任务的潜在候选者。目前，DEP 主要用于微流体分离器，因此吞吐量有限。此外，DEP 设置通常需要昂贵的组件，例如在洁净室中制造的电极阵列。这里，我们展示并描述了基于两个廉价的定制设计印刷电路板（80 × 120 mm 电路板尺寸）的分离器。该板由叉指电极阵列组成$250\mu$m 电极宽度和间距。我们展示了使用范围从 500 nm 到$\mathrm{6个}\mu$m 在单分散实验中。此外，我们展示了在所提出的二元混合物设备中以高达 240 ml/h 的流速进行选择性捕获。我们的实验展示了一种提高基于电极的 DEP 分离器吞吐量的经济实惠的方法。