Dielectrophoretic Motion of Particles and

Dielectrophoretic Motion of Particles and Cells, Fig. 1 A parallel plate capacitor... 

Dielectrophoretic Motion of Particles and Cells, Fig. 2 A uniform electric field interacting with (a) a particle more polarizable than the medium and (b) a particle less polarizable than the medium... 

Dielectrophoretic Motion of Particles and Cells, Fig. 6 An illustration of a dielectrophoretic microsystem that can selectively sort particles (top view). Recall that the electrodes are on the top and bottom surfaces of the microchannel and to not mechanically manipulate the particles... 

The implementation of physical mechanisms at the microscale for cell manipulation takes advantage of the scaling laws at sizes comparable to cells sizes. Some of the techniques are widely used and very well developed (see the entries on Cell Patterning on Chip, Dielectrophoretic Motion of Particles and Cells, Optical Tweezers for Manipulating Cells and Particles ). Other techniques are still emerging and our understanding of the practical aspects of these is still evolving. 

There are many applications of nonlinear electro-kinetic phenomena in microfluidics. For example, the dielectrophoretic motion of particles and cells is used for separating and concentrating biological samples. Electrokinetic flow instability and electrothermal effects can be used for microfluidic mixing. 

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