8. Particles in Microfluidic Systems: Handling, Characterization, and Applications

This chapter gives a tour of the fascinating opportunities for handling and characterizing solid particles by microfluidic methods. First, attention will be given to the hydrodynamic, electrical, and magnetic forces which may be used to manipulate suspended particles at small scales. Second, important methods for the detection and characterization that have been proposed in the literature are illustrated and discussed. The third and last part of the chapter will give the reader a sense of the exciting applications of these methods in different fields, in particular flow cytometry, particle synthesis, and bioanalytical measurement. These applications exemplify the subtle invasion of particle-based microfluidics into many areas of the life sciences, pharmaceutical technology, chemistry, and materials science. In the future, the trend towards miniaturization will continue, and we are likely to see an increasing number of technologies and products using some of the principles reviewed here.