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Manipulating Particles For Micro- And Nano-Fluidics Via Floating Electrodes And Diffusiophoresis, Sinan Eren Yalcin

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The ability to accurately control micro- and nano-particles in a liquid is fundamentally useful for many applications in biology, medicine, pharmacology, tissue engineering, and microelectronics. Therefore, first particle manipulations are experimentally studied using electrodes attached to the bottom of a straight microchannel under an imposed DC or AC electric field. In contrast to a dielectric microchannel possessing a nearly-uniform surface charge, a floating electrode is polarized under the imposed electric field.

The purpose is to create a non-uniform distribution of the induced surface charge, with a zero-net-surface charge along the floating electrode's surface. Such a field, in turn, generates an …