Cross-stream inertial migration of rigid microparticles in microchannels with power-law fluid*

Separation and focusing of cells are critical processes in biomedical applications. In these applications, the samples of interest composed of populations of cells with different sizes, shapes, and properties need to be separated for further analysis. Commercially available sorting techniques are complex and require high cost procedures to label cells. Researchers focus on the development of label-free strategies for sorting that rely on the intrinsic properties of the cells. One of the approaches to achieve size-based separation of biological and synthetic particles is based on the inertial cross-stream migration of particles within microchannels with a pressure driven flow. In this study, we use computational modeling based on Lattice-Boltzmann method to probe cross-stream migration of microparticles in a microchannel filled with a power-law fluid. We show that the inertial particle separation can be significantly enhanced in shear thinning fluids.