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Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Preparation of Janus Particles and Alternating Current Electrokinetic Measurements with a Rapidly Fabricated Indium Tin Oxide Electrode Array
Published on: June 23, 2017
Induced-charge electrophoresis of metallodielectric particles
Sumit Gangwal1, Olivier J Cayre, Martin Z Bazant
1Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, USA.
Abstract:
The application of ac electric fields in aqueous suspensions of anisotropic particles leads to unbalanced liquid flows and nonlinear, induced-charge electrophoretic motion. We report experimental observations of the motion of Janus microparticles with one dielectric and one metal-coated hemisphere induced by uniform fields of frequency 100 Hz-10 kHz in NaCl solutions. The motion is perpendicular to the field axis and persists after particles are attracted to a glass wall. This phenomenon may find applications in microactuators, microsensors, and microfluidic devices.
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