How might an astronaut in a vacuum create an electrical field sufficient to affect a cloud of particulates?

My protagonist is in a sticky situation: floating in space (fortunately in a spacesuit) and about to be attacked by an alien avatar made from smart matter; tiny specks of dust which share a distributed intelligence and cling together to form various shapes.

She just needs to delay rather than destroy the avatar, and I am thinking that in the same way static electricity attracts dust, perhaps if she could create an electrical field from her suit's power supply she could use this to temporarily disrupt the avatar's form.

The setting is the distant future and this is not hard SF, although I would rather not break any laws of science.

Would this plan work, and if so how could she implement it?

Thanks!

posted almost 6 years ago

Dom Dulley‭

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