Dielectrophoretic adhesion of 50-300µm sand and alumina particles under ambient atmospheric conditions

There are applications that require temporary adhesion of particles to a surface, including temporary printing where the "ink" is intended to be easily recovered and subsequently reused. One possible approach is through the use of dielectrophoretic force to attach coloured solid “ink” particles under the control of a voltage applied to an electrode pattern.Dielectrophoretic theory predicts that dielectrophoretic force is proportional to particle volume. In the circumstance where this force opposes gravitational force, this makes the balance of forces on a particle insensitive to particle size. It thereby is possible to suspend surprisingly large particles using highly divergent surface fields produced by interdigitated electrodes at modest voltages.