Nucleic acid sample preparation

The method of claim 31, wherein the AC electrokinetic field is produced using an alternating current having a voltage of 1 volt to 40 volts peak-peak, and/or a frequency of 5 Hz to 5,000,000 Hz and duty cycles from 5% to 50%.

The method of claim 31, wherein the nucleic acid is deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), ribonucleic acid (RNA) or a combination thereof.

The method of claim 31, wherein the electrodes are selectively energized to provide the first dielectrophoretic field region and subsequently or continuously selectively energized to provide the second dielectrophoretic field region.

The method of claim 31, wherein the array of electrodes is spin-coated with a hydrogel having a thickness between about 0.1 microns and 1 micron.

The method of claim 31, wherein the isolated nucleic acid comprises less than about 10% non-nucleic acid cellular material or cellular protein by mass.

The method of claim 31, wherein the method is completed in less than 10 minutes.

The method of claim 31, wherein the array of electrodes comprises a wavy line configuration, wherein the configuration comprises a repeating unit comprising the shape of a pair of dots connected by linker, wherein the linker tapers inward toward the midpoint between the pair of dots, wherein the diameters of the dots are the widest points along the length of the repeating unit, wherein the edge to edge distance between a parallel set of repeating units is equidistant, or roughly equidistant.

The method of claim 31, wherein the array of electrodes comprises a passivation layer with a relative electrical permittivity from about 2.0 to about 4.0.

The method of claim 31, wherein the fluid is a bodily fluid, an environmental sample, food or beverage, growth medium or water.