Leiden University Student Repository

Schwander, Eliot (2020)

Simulation of a dielectrophoretic trap for single polystyrene beads

Bachelor thesis | Natuurkunde (BSc)

Dielectrophoresis is a widely used technique for on-chip manipulation of polarizable objects like cells, viruses and microparticles. Recently the use of nanotechnology enabled scaling down the dielectrophoretic trapping to the level of nanoparticles and even single molecules. We aim to develop a dielectrophoresis-based tool to trap and actuate single biomolecules in order to study them. In this thesis we have designed and simulated a nanoscale dielectrophoretic trap as well as explored the possibilities of actuating trapped nanoparticles between the two hotspots of the trap. The simulation framework developed in this thesis based on COMSOL Multiphysics and python simulations paves the way to smart engineering of single-molecule dielectrophoretic traps, which can reduce the cost and time for production and development.

Dielectrophoresis

COMSOL

Single molecule

Trapping

Author

Schwander, Eliot

Faculty

Faculty of Science

Specialisation

Physics and Astronomy

Supervisors

Orrit, Michel

ECTS Credits

3

Language

en