A continuous flow micro filtration device for plasma/blood separation using submicron vertical pillar gap structures

This work demonstrates a continuous flow plasma/blood separator using a vertical submicron pillar gap structure. The working principle of the proposed separator is based on size exclusion of cells through cross-flow filtration, in which only plasma is allowed to pass through submicron vertical pillars located tangential to the main flow path of the blood sample. The maximum filtration efficiency of 99.9% was recorded with a plasma collection rate of 0.67 mu l min(-1) for an input blood flow rate of 12.5 mu l min(-1). The hemolysis phenomenon was observed for an input blood flow rate above 30 mu l min(-1). Based on the experimental results, we can conclude that the proposed device shows potential for the application of on-chip plasma/blood separation as a part of integrated point-of-care (POC) diagnostics systems.