Controlled Migration of LC-enabled Electrophoresis by Patterned Surface Alignment

Abstract

Electrically driven flows of fluids (electro-osmosis) and transport of particles in a fluid (electrophoresis) have attracted much attention in a broad disciple of applied science. Here it is demonstrated that the direction of migration of microparticles in a nematic liquid crystal can be controlled by changing amplitude and frequency of applied voltage, if the interface inside a test cell has a spatial pattern templated by a chiral nematic liquid crystals. This phenomenon may be ascribed to a three-dimensional patterning of LC director configuration induced by combination of the electrohydrodynamic convection and the surface anchoring.