Electroadhesives offer a promising approach for controllable pick-and-place of thin objects across manufacturing scales. Unlike electroadhesion on thick objects, which can be treated as a single-interface adhesion problem, the case of a thin dielectric object placed on a substrate allows the electric field to penetrate through to the substrate, leading to electroadhesion at both the electroadhesive–object and object–substrate interfaces. The resulting competition between these interfaces complicates the underlying physics, such that the design principles governing thick-object electroadhesion are not directly applicable to thin dielectric object configurations. To address this challenge, a dimensionless finite element analysis framework is developed to systematically investigate the influence of key system parameters on net electroadhesion strength, thereby elucidating how the competing interfacial interactions are modulated. We identify that the optimal electrode dimensions follow a thickness-normalized scaling relationship (sum of electrode width and spacing relative to the object thickness) governed by a scale-matching effect between the lateral electrode dimension and the effective separation encompassing the electrode–object separation and the object thickness. This relationship is distinct from the geometric ratios (e.g., width-to-spacing ratios) reported in thick-object studies and depends on both system geometry and material properties. The corresponding achievable net electroadhesion strength varies systematically with key material and geometric parameters. Experiments validate the finite element predictions. This study provides fundamental insights into electroadhesion for handling of thin dielectric objects and offers practical design guidelines for electroadhesion-based pick-and-place techniques.
Yang et al. (Mon,) studied this question.