Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 May 5.
Published in final edited form as: Anal Chem. 2014 Sep 3;86(18):9350–9355. doi: 10.1021/ac503100a

Figure 4.

Figure 4

Purity of bacterial cells recovered from supernatants and sediments, as a function of differences in the characteristic surface free energy (SFE) of cells in the binary mixtures. Three binary mixtures were studied, i.e., P. putida and E. faecalis, S. Typhimurium and E. faecalis, and E. coli and E. faecalis. Cell purities at both low and high OD peaks were measured. The low and high OD peaks correspond to suspending liquids of which surface tensions (γ) are equal to the low and high SFEs of the cells in the binary mixtures. Without strict definitions, when the cell purity falls within 85–100%, the sorting efficiency is considered to be high (green region), and within 70–85% is moderate (yellow region). When the cell purity is below 70%, the sorting efficiency is considered to be low (red region), indicating failure of the method in sorting cells.