Dielectrophoretic trapping of suspended particles by selective pyroelectric effect in lithium niobate crystals

We have developed a dielectrophoretic approach for trapping suspended dielectric particles. The electric forces were produced by using the pyroelectric effect in periodically poled lithium niobate substrates. Complex electric field distributions can be built up through an appropriate control of the temperature and the particles can be distributed according to the geometry of the reversed ferroelectric domain structure. The electrode-less configuration makes the technique easier to accomplish compared to conventional dielectrophoretic devices, with interesting possibilities of applications in the field of biology and biomedicine.