Mathematical model and verification of electric field and dielectrophoresis in a microfluidic device

Dielectrophoresis is a popular technique for the manipulation of dielectric microparticles and has been widely used for separation, focusing, chaining, trapping, dipping, and switching of the target particles. In this paper, we have presented an analytical formulation for the Dielectrophoretic force within a microchannel. A set of electrodes protrude slightly into the channel from a sidewall at the bottom of the channel. The electric field distribution and the resulting Dielectrophoretic force in the channel is calculated analytically by solving the governing equations along with the boundary conditions. The same results are obtained numerically and an excellent agreement is found.