Dielectrophoresis (DEP), a nonlinear electrokinetic transport mechanism, can be used to concentrate and sort cells, viruses, and particles. To date, microfabricated DEP-based devices have typically used embedded metal electrodes to apply spatially nonuniform, time-varying (AC) electric fields. We have developed an alternative method in which arrays of insulating posts in a channel of a microchi...

This paper provides a critical review about the integration of electrochemical processes into membrane bioreactors (MBR) in order to understand the influence of these processes on wastewater treatment performance and membrane fouling control. The integration can be realized either in an internal or an external configuration. Electrically enhanced membrane bioreactors or electro membrane bioreac...

Shock electrodialysis (shock ED), an emerging electrokinetic process for water purification, leverages the new physics of deionization shock waves in porous media. In previous work, a simple leaky membrane model with surface conduction can explain propagation shocks ED system, but it cannot quantitatively predict and conductance (which determines energy consumption), selective removal ions expe...

An important problem in the life sciences and in health care is simple and rapid detection of biomarkers. Although microfluidic devices are potentially useful in addressing this problem, current techniques for automating fluid delivery--which include valves and electroosmosis--require sophisticated microfabrication of the chip, bulky instrumentation, or both. In this paper, we describe a simple...

The field of electrokinetics, or electrically driven motion of particles and fluids, recently celebrated its 200th birthday [1, 2] and yet it remains a frontier of theoretical physics. Stringent tests of the standard model used by workers in this field are now possible in microfluidic devices using alternating-current [3] or induced-charge electro-osmotic (ICEO) flows [4]. Unlike classical elec...

This technical note reports a method for measuring the diffusion coefficient of molecules based on an optoelectrofluidic platform. Optoelectrofluidic fluorescence microscopy, which is constructed with an optoelectrofluidic device and a conventional fluorescence microscope, is a useful tool for controlling and detecting local molecular concentration in a fluid with a single light source. When we...

Electrokinetically enhanced remediation is an innovative technology that has the potential to remediate hydrophobic organic compound (HOC) contamination in soils and groundwater. A surfactant/cosolvent is used to increase HOC desorption and solubilization, and an applied electric potential facilitates contaminant transport primarily by electroosmosis and/or electrophoresis. Electroosmotic flow ...