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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 100 » Issue 5
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 058302 (2008) [4 pages]

Induced-Charge Electrophoresis of Metallodielectric Particles

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Sumit Gangwal1, Olivier J. Cayre1, Martin Z. Bazant2, and Orlin D. Velev1,*
1Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27695, USA
2Department of Mathematics and Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139, USA

Received 27 April 2007; published 4 February 2008

The application of ac electric fields in aqueous suspensions of anisotropic particles leads to unbalanced liquid flows and nonlinear, induced-charge electrophoretic motion. We report experimental observations of the motion of Janus microparticles with one dielectric and one metal-coated hemisphere induced by uniform fields of frequency 100 Hz–10 kHz in NaCl solutions. The motion is perpendicular to the field axis and persists after particles are attracted to a glass wall. This phenomenon may find applications in microactuators, microsensors, and microfluidic devices.

© 2008 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.058302
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.058302
PACS:
47.57.jd, 47.57.J−, 81.05.Zx

*odvelev@unity.ncsu.edu

 
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