Sheathless particle focusing and separation in viscoelastic fluid is demonstrated using an integrated ECCA (straight channel section with asymmetrical expansion–contraction cavity arrays) straight channel.
We explore the use of non-Newtonian viscoelastic fluids to achieve size-tunable elasto-inertial particle focusing and sorting in a microfluidic device, and realize the controllable tunability among three separation thresholds.
We experimentally explore the elasto-inertial particle focusing in curved microfluidic channels and propose a six-stage process model illustrating the particle focusing with increasing flow rate.