Theoretical and experimental study of the kinetics of particle chains near electrodes in dielectrophoretic devices

Using a three dimensional coupled Monte Carlo-Poisson algorithm and experimental results we studied the role of the particle-particle dipole interaction on the kinetics of a system of human cells suspended in a static liquid medium under the action of an oscillating non-uniform electric field generated by polynomial electrodes. We found that the kinetics of the cells during negative/repulsive dielectrophoresis depends on the local distribution of particles. If the cells have generated long chains during positive/attractive dielectrophoresis, such chains can hinder subsequent detachment resulting in a reduction of the separation/manipulation efficiency of dielectrophoretic device. This effect can be avoided by proper design of the electrodes schema.