Optical Tweezers are employed to study the electrophoretic and the electroosmotic motion of a single colloid immersed in electrolyte solutions of ion concentrations between 10(-5) and 1 mol/l and of different valencies (KCl, CaCl(2), LaCl(3)). The measured particle mobility in monovalent salt is found to be in agreement with computations combining primitive model molecular dynamics simulations of the ionic double layer with the standard electrokinetic model. Mobility reversal of a single colloid-for the first time-is observed in the presence of trivalent ions (LaCl(3)) at ionic strengths larger than 10(-2) mol/l. In this case, our numerical model is in a quantitative agreement with the experiment only when ion specific attractive forces are added to the primitive model, demonstrating that at low colloidal charge densities, ion correlation effects alone do not suffice to produce mobility reversal.

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Optical tweezers are experimental tools with extraordinary resolution in positioning (± 1 nm) a micron-sized colloid and in the measurement of forces (± 50 fN) acting on it-without any mechanical contact. This enables one to carry out a multitude of novel experiments in nano- and microfluidics, of which the following will be presented in this review: (i) forces within single pairs of colloids in media of varying concentration and valency of the surrounding ionic solution, (ii) measurements of the electrophoretic mobility of single colloids in different solvents (concentration, valency of the ionic solution and pH), (iii) similar experiments as in (i) with DNA-grafted colloids, (iv) the nonlinear response of single DNA-grafted colloids in shear flow and (v) the drag force on single colloids pulled through a polymer solution. The experiments will be described in detail and their analysis discussed.

Optical tweezers are employed to measure separately the complex electrophoretic mobility of a single colloid and the complex electroosmotic response of the surrounding medium in a specially designed microfluidic cell. Using the very same colloid both quantities are determined in dependence on the concentration of the aqueous salt solution (10 (- 5)-10 (- 1) mol l (- 1)), the valence of the ions (K (+) , Ca(2 +) ) and the pH (2.5-8.5). A pronounced effect is observed for all these examined parameters. The dependence on ion concentration agrees qualitatively-for the monovalent case-with the predictions of the standard electrokinetic model.