Dual-Height Fluidic Channels for Particle Concentration Integrated with Micropore Sensors for Single Particle Detection

Abstract

Pathogenic bacteria are micrometer-scale bioparticles of potential risk to miscellaneous diseases whose rapid diagnosis and medical care requires a sensor for sensitive microbial detections in dilute suspension of physiological media. Integration of solid-state pore sensors and fluidic channels for particle concentration allows high-throughput single-particle detections in a low-concentration particle solution. This paper presents high-throughput particle detection using capillary-driven hydrodynamics in dual-height fluidic channels integrated with the micropore sensor. The device concept is based on a Washburn model to collect over-sized particles at the junctions of dual-height fluidic channels. We achieved up to 880-fold-concentration of microparticles dispersed in buffer using the micropore-integrated dual-height fluidic channels. As this method uses only hydrodynamic flow for particle concentration, it can be applied to essentially any analytes unlikely to be the case for other techniques such as electrophoretic or magnetic manipulation. Integration of micropore sensors and fluidic channels for particle concentration will contribute to high-throughput bioparticle detections in dilute suspension of physiological media.