The sizes of most prokaryotic cells are several microns. It is very difficult to separate cells with similar sizes. A sorter with a contraction–expansion microchannel and applied magnetic field is designed to sort microparticles with diameters of 3, 4 and 5 microns. To evaluate the sorting efficiency of the designed sorter, numerical simulations for calculating the distributions of microparticles with similar sizes were carried out for various magnetic fields, inlet velocities, sheath flow ratios and structural parameters. The numerical results indicate that micro-particles with diameters of 3, 4 and 5 microns can be sorted efficiently in such a sorter within appropriate parameters. Furthermore, it is shown that a bigger particle size and more powerful magnetic field can result in a greater lateral migration of microparticles. The sorting efficiency of microparticles promotes a lower inlet velocity and greater sheath flow ratios. A smaller contraction–expansion ratio can induce a greater space between particle-bands. Finally, the micro particle image velocity (micro-PIV) experiments were conducted to obtain the bandwidths and spaces between particle-bands. The comparisons between the numerical and experimental results show a good agreement and make the validity of the numerical results certain.

The promotion of the heat transfer by ferro-nanofluid under a magnetic field has caught more extensive attention in the field of nuclear industry and energy engineering. Firstly, a modified model based on the Buongiorno model was proposed to investigate the heat transfer considering the Kelvin force in the presence of an inhomogeneous magnetic field to elevate the heat transfer performance of nanofluid using thermomagnetic convection. Secondly, the influence of Kelvin force, thermophoresis, and Brownian motion of nanoparticles

Water erosion mechanism of mild carbon steels induced by micro-particles Chinese Science Bulletin 54, 4577 (2009); Prediction of the effective thermal conductivity of packed bed with micro-particles for thermochemical heat storage Science Bulletin 62, 256 (2017); Key roles of micro-particles in water on occurrence of cavitation-erosion of hydro-machinery