Project 7

ASSEMBLING and testing of multilayered carbon nanofiber mats for dielectrophoresis

(dr. Stuart Williams, ME)

Dielectrophoresis (DEP) is a microfluidic technique that traps particles utilizing non-uniform electric fields. While DEP has been used to selectively trap and concentrate many particle types, it has not been widely adopted due to its low throughput [1] (typ. mL/hour) and inability to effectively trap nanoparticles (< 100 nm). To address this problem, Prof Williams created a carbon nanofiber mat using electrospinning [2] that consists of conductive fibers (1 to 5 S/cm) with diameters less than 500nm as shown in Figure. The 3D mesh of fibers enables high throughput, and the small fiber diameter creates significant field gradients. These mats should enable high throughput filtration of nanoparticles. In this project, the REU student will create nanofibers and package them to enhance throughput and trapping, pursuing multilayered and/or larger diameter assemblies. This research is also supported by NSF Award #2121008 (MCA: Precision electrospinning training to enhance electrokinetic filtration and spectroscopy). Students interested in BE, ME, ChE, ECE, Chem, or Bio will be excellent candidates.

REFERENCES:

1. https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/elps.202000137A review of dielectrophoresis separation and classification of non-biological particles, Electrophoresis

2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32343558/Polymeric Nanofiber-Carbon Nanotube Composite Mats as Fast-Equilibrium Passive Samplers for Polar Organic Contaminants, Environ Sci Techno