Manipulation of magnetic nanoparticles by optically induced dielectrophoresis

This paper presents a method for the manipulation of magnetic nanoparticles by optically induced dielectrophoresis (ODEP) device that can realize the transportation and convergence of nanoparticles. ODEP can be realized with a sandwich structure of three layers including the photoconductive layer, the liquid layer with the sample and the indium tin oxide electrode (ITO) layer. In this work, magnetic nanoparticles with the diameter of 10-100nm were successfully manipulated by positive dielectrophoresis force. The solution with magnetic nanoparticles on a mica substrate placed in the sandwich structure was dried in the air and imaged by atomic force microscope (AFM). The AFM images showed that the magnetic nanoparticles were converged in the illumination area. This method can be used to manipulate magnetic nanoparticles.