Patterned Surfaces Segregate Compliant Microcapsules

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• 作者：Alexander Alexeev ; Rolf Verberg ; Anna C. Balazs
• 刊名：Langmuir
• 出版年：2007
• 出版时间：January 30, 2007
• 年：2007
• 卷：23
• 期：3
• 页码：983 - 987
• 全文大小：308K
• 年卷期：v.23,no.3(January 30, 2007)
• ISSN：1520-5827

文摘

For both biological cells and synthetic microcapsules, mechanical stiffness is a key parameter since it can revealthe presence of disease in the former case and the quality of the fabricated product in the latter case. To date, however,assessing the mechanical properties of such micron-scale particles in an efficient, cost-effective means remains acritical challenge. By developing a three-dimensional computational model of fluid-filled, elastic spheres rolling onsubstrates patterned with diagonal stripes, we demonstrate a useful method for separating cells or microcapsules bytheir compliance. In particular, we examine the fluid-driven motion of these capsules over a hard adhesive surfacethat contains soft stripes or a weakly adhesive surface that contains "sticky" stripes. As a result of their inherentlydifferent interactions with the heterogeneous substrate, particles with dissimilar stiffness are dispersed to distinct laterallocations on the surface. Since mechanically and chemically patterned surfaces can be readily fabricated through softlithography and can easily be incorporated into microfluidic devices, our results point to a facile method for carryingout continuous "on the fly" separation processes.