Bidirectional migration of Au colloids and silicon microrods in liquid using asymmetrical alternating current electric field with insulated electrodes

2014 
In this study, we demonstrate the migration of Au colloids and silicon microrods in deionized (DI) water and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) by applying asymmetrical AC bias to two electrodes capped with a thin dielectric film. Both Au colloids and silicon microrods successfully migrate from one electrode to the other when asymmetrical AC bias is applied to the electrodes. Furthermore, the direction of the migration can be easily reversed by inverting the wave form. The insulated electrodes have the potential to prevent contamination and bubbling originating from electrochemical reactions, which makes the adoption of the technique for mass production processes easy and realistic. The bidirectional migration acts similarly to electrophoresis and is effective even in DI water and IPA in which conventional DC electrophoresis with insulated electrodes is ineffective. This technique is widely applicable to the positional control of small objects including nano- and micro-sized devices.
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