AC Electrokinetics for Biosensors

We develop here tools for speeding up binding in a biosensor device through augmenting diffusive transport, applicable to immunoassays as well as DNA hybridization, and to a variety of formats, from microfluidic to microarray. AC electric fields generate the fluid motion through the well documented but unexploited phenomenon, Electrothermal Flow, where the circulating flow redirects or stirs the fluid, providing more binding opportunities between suspended and wall-immobilized molecules. Numerical simulations predict a factor of up to 8 increase in binding rate for an immunoassay under reasonable conditions. Preliminary experiments show qualitatively higher binding after 15 minutes. In certain applications, dielectrophoretic capture of passing molecules, when combined with electrothermal flow, can increase local analyte concentration and further enhance binding.