Characterization on chain-assembly of polystyrene micro-particles via dielectrophoresis

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, the characteristic of pearl chain formation was investigated with the dielectrophoretic manipulation of polystyrene micro-particles. Comsol-based simulations and dielectrophoretic experiments were conducted to analyze the detailed influence factors. With different parameters such as voltage amplitude and particle size, the length of the pearl chain varies. Simulation results are consistent with experimental results, indicating that voltage amplitude is a critical factor for chain formation, while particle size has minimal impact. Additionally, particle chains exhibit slight orientation differences between the experiment and simulation. These results provide significant insight into the behavior of chain formation under the influence of dielectrophoresis and offer practical guidance for implementing dielectrophoresis technology in microfluidic chips and biosensors.