Magnetophoretic focusing on submicron particles dispersed in a polymer-stabilized magnetic fluid

Magnetophoresis is the migration of particles upon the application of an inhomogeneous magnetic field. The overall goal of this work was to investigate the magnetophoretic focusing of non-magnetic particles suspended in magnetic fluids, which are colloidal suspensions of nano-sized magnetic particles. With the magnetic fluid as the solvent, dispersed non-magnetic particles behave as if they were diamagnetic due to the difference in magnetic susceptibility between them and the surrounding magnetic continuum. When an inhomogeneous magnetic force is applied, a magnetic force acts on the colloidal particles, the magnitude of which is linearly proportional to the volume of the particles, the difference in the magnetic susceptibilities of the particles and the surrounding magnetic fluid, and the gradient of the square of the magnetic field. One potential application for this phenomenon is in the separation of submicron biological particles such as viruses, cell fragments, DNA and inclusion bodies. Magnetic fluids have several characteristics that make them attractive for use in separation. For example, they can be tailored to the separation needs at hand, manipulated using external magnetic fields, and completely removed through magnetic filtration. Since the scope of the work was to use physical forces for attaining the desired separations, the magnetic particles were designed and synthesized without any chemical affinity to the solute to be separated. They were prepared by coprecipitation of iron (II) and (III) ions to form magnetite, which is coated by a comb copolymer that serves two purposes: to limit growth of magnetite to about 10 nm and to stabilize the particles against aggregation.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Chemical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2002

Author dc:creator

• Fateen, Seif-Eddeen K. (Seif-Eddeen Khaled), 1971-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• T. Alan Hatton.

• Chemical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8497

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/8497