In this study, a tunable and optically transparent water-based wideband metamaterial absorber (MMA) is proposed and verified. By adjusting the thickness of the water layer, the conversion of the absorber absorption band from 7.4-22.4 GHz to 23.1-35.5 GHz can be achieved, which demonstrates the flexibility of MMA. Indium tin oxide (ITO) as the resonant and reflective layers of the material structure. Optically transparent polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is used as a medium container to encapsulate the water. Furthermore, the suggested MMA is polarization insensitive and has broad incident angle stability. Experiments verify the excellent properties of the proposed MMA. As a result, the suggested MMA has various applications in military and medical equipment optical windows.
Cell separation has become @important in biological and medical applications. Dielectrophoresis (DEP) is widely used due to the advantages it offers, such as the lack of a requirement for biological markers and the fact that it involves no damage to cells or particles. This study aimed to report a novel approach combining 3D sidewall electrodes and contraction/expansion (CEA) structures to separate three kinds of particles with different sizes or dielectric properties continuously. The separation was achieved through the interaction between electrophoretic forces and inertia forces. The CEA channel was capable of sorting particles with different sizes due to inertial forces, and also enhanced the nonuniformity of the electric field. The 3D electrodes generated a non-uniform electric field at the same height as the channels, which increased the action range of the DEP force. Finite element simulations using the commercial software, COMSOL Multiphysics 5.4, were performed to determine the flow field distributions, electric field distributions, and particle trajectories. The separation experiments were assessed by separating 4 µm polystyrene (PS) particles from 20 µm PS particles at different flow rates by experiencing positive and negative DEP. Subsequently, the sorting performances of the 4 µm PS particles, 20 µm PS particles, and 4 µm silica particles with different solution conductivities were observed. Both the numerical simulations and the practical particle separation displayed high separating efficiency (separation of 4 µm PS particles, 94.2%; separation of 20 µm PS particles, 92.1%; separation of 4 µm Silica particles, 95.3%). The proposed approach is expected to open a new approach to cell sorting and separating.
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