Deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) is a high-resolution size-based separation technique. It employs a porous media with periodic obstacles, through which particles of different sizes migrate in different spatial directions under the same driving force. Over the past decade, rigid spherical particle separation using DLD method has been widely explored, while the lateral migration of particles with different shapes and deformability has not been fully studied. Here, we investigate the gravity-driven migration dynamics of semi-flexible rod-like colloidal particles in ordered porous media. Specifically, chemically linked semi-flexible colloidal chains serve as model deformable rods and transport through a microfluidic pillar array induced by a gravitational body force. Particle trajectories are presented using both experiments and simulation results. Similar to rigid spherical particles in the pillar arrays, zigzag and laterally displaced trajectories are observed for the longer and more flexible rods. In addition, the high aspect ratio and deformable nature of the colloidal particles lead to richer local dynamical behavior, including bouncing, hairpin shape bending, sliding and hooking. We discuss how the deformability and size of rods affect their migration trajectories through ordered porous media.
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See more of this Group/Topical: Southwest Process Technology Conference
See more of this Group/Topical: Southwest Process Technology Conference