Repulsive Force for Micro- and Nano-Non-Contact Manipulation

Amélie Cot (1) , Patrick Rougeot (2) , Sophie Lakard (2) , Michaël Gauthier (1) , Jérôme Dejeu (1)

1 FEMTO-ST - Franche-Comté Électronique Mécanique, Thermique et Optique - Sciences et Technologies (UMR 6174)
2 UTINAM - Univers, Transport, Interfaces, Nanostructures, Atmosphère et environnement, Molécules (UMR 6213)

Non-contact positioning of micro-objects using electric fields has been widely explored, based on several physical principles such as electrophoresis, dielectrophoresis (DEP) or optical dielectrophoresis (ODEP), in which the actuation force is induced by an electric charge or an electric dipole placed in an electric field. In this paper, we introduce a new way to control charges in non-contact positioning of micro-objects using chemical functionalization (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane - APTES) able to localize charges on a substrate and/or on a micro-object. We demonstrate that this functionalization in a liquid with a low ionic strength is able to concentrate a significant amount of electric charges on surfaces generating an electric field over a long distance (about 10 microns), also call a large exclusion zone (EZ). A model is proposed and validated with electrostatic force measurements between substrate and microparticles (diameter up to 40µm). We demonstrate that the magnitude of the force and the force range decrease rapidly when the ionic strength of the medium increases. Based on the proposed model, we show that this new way to localize charges on micro-objects may be used for non-contact positioning.

Domaines: Algorithme et structure de données [cs.DS]; Acoustique [physics.class-ph]; Automatique / Robotique; Matériaux; Micro et nanotechnologies/Microélectronique

Amélie Cot, Patrick Rougeot, Sophie Lakard, Michaël Gauthier, Jérôme Dejeu. Repulsive Force for Micro- and Nano-Non-Contact Manipulation. Applied Sciences, 2023, 13 (6), pp.3886 (14). ⟨10.3390/app13063886⟩. ⟨hal-04224368⟩