Induced-charge electrophoresis of nonspherical particles

The electrophoretic motion of a conducting particle, driven by an induced-charge mechanism, is analyzed. The dependence of the motion upon particle shape is embodied in two tensorial coefficients that relate the particle translational and rotational velocities to the externally applied electric field. The coefficients are represented as surface integrals of the electric potential over the particle boundary, thereby eliminating the need to solve the flow field. Nonspherical particles may translate and/or rotate in response to the imposed field, even if their net electric charge vanishes. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.