Ordered Arrangement of Polystyrene Latex Particles Conducted by Electrophoresis and Dielectrophoresis

Abstract

Polystyrene latex particles in 5 μm diameter were arranged one-, two- and three-dimensionally by electrophoresis and dielectrophoresis using the following electrodes, plate-plate electrode, plate-needle electrode and hyperbolic quadruple electrode. Application of an AC field brought about a one dimensional latex particle arrangement, resulting a pearl chain, by dielectrophoretic force on using the plate-plate electrode. Particle arrangement could be tuned by changing AC bias frequecy when using the plate-needle electrode. With the hyperbolic quadruple electrode, particles could be closely packed in a two-dimensional arrangement with application of the AC field. Simultaneous application of high frequency AC and DC fields resulted in arrangement in the region surrounded by the electrodes with consequent particle multilayer formation. Reversible control of particle arrangement (dispersion, monolayer, and multilayer) can thus be carried out through appropriate choice of electrode and mode of electric field application.