Preliminary Investigation of the Effect of Dielectrophoresis on Colloidal Transport and Deposition in Evaporating Droplets

This work investigates the effect of negative dielectrophoresis (DEP) on polystyrene particles inside an evaporating DI water droplet on a PDMS surface. Deposition patterns of actuated droplets transitioned from a scalloped rings to a striped deposition pattern as the particle diameter increased from 20 nm to 1 μm. Increased particle size dramatically increases the negative DEP force on particles that push them toward the lower field gradient expected in fluid between active electrodes. Interestingly, deposition patterns became more uniform when particle diameter was increased to 5 μm. This uniform pattern appears to be due to interfacial trapping as the diffusion rate of the large particles was significantly slower than the velocity of the descending interface. This work suggests that DEP can be used to control deposition patterns left by evaporating colloidal droplets, but further work examining the electric field gradient inside the droplet is required to determine if this technique can be applied to a wider range of particle sizes.