Microrobots powered by concentration polarization electrophoresis

Second-order electrokinetic flow around colloidal particles caused by concentration polarization electro-osmosis (CPEO) can result in a phoretic motion of asymmetric particle dimers in a homogeneous AC electrical field, which we refer to as concentration polarization electro-phoresis (CPEP). To demonstrate this actuation mechanism, we created particle dimers from micron-sized silica spheres with sizes 1.0 µm and 2.1 µm by connecting them with DNA linker molecules. Systematic experiments exploring the dependence of the dimer migration speed on the electric field strength, frequency, and buffer composition align with the theoretical framework of CPEO. This dataset contains microscopy videos that show the migration of these particle dimers under varying electric field strengths, frequencies, and buffer compositions.