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Updated: May 14, 2026

The Preparation of Electrohydrodynamic Bridges from Polar Dielectric Liquids
Published on: September 30, 2014
Numerical simulation of optically-induced dielectrophoresis using a voltage-transformation-ratio model
Shih-Hsun Hung1, Sheng-Chieh Huang, Gwo-Bin Lee
1Department of Engineering Science, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. intel_once@hotmail.com
Abstract:
Optically-induced dielectrophoresis (ODEP) has been extensively used for the manipulation and separation of cells, beads and micro-droplets in microfluidic devices. With this approach, non-uniform electric fields induced by light projected on a photoconductive layer can be used to generate attractive or repulsive forces on dielectric materials. Then, moving these light patterns can be used for the manipulation of particles in the microfluidic devices. This study reports on the results from numerical simulation of the ODEP platform using a new model based on a voltage transformation ratio, which takes the effective electrical voltage into consideration. Results showed that the numerical simulation was in reasonably agreement with experimental data for the manipulation of polystyrene beads and emulsion droplets, with a coefficient of variation less than 6.2% (n = 3). The proposed model can be applied to simulations of the ODEP force and may provide a reliable tool for estimating induced dielectrophoretic forces and electric fields, which is crucial for microfluidic applications.
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