Control of electrostatic particle-particle interactions in dielectrophoresis

In a nonuniform electric field, the particles of a suspension experience both a dielectrophoretic (DEP) force and electrostatic particle-particle forces. In applications which require that the particles be manipulated individually the latter forces are not desirable. It is shown numerically that the ratio of the particle-particle and DEP forces decreases with increasing particle size and increasing gap between the particles, and its variation with the Clausius-Mossotti factor becomes increasingly nonlinear with decreasing particle size.