We describe the general phenomenon of `induced-charge electro-osmosis' (ICEO) -- the nonlinear electro-osmotic slip that occurs when an applied field acts on the ionic charge it {\sl induces} around a polarizable surface. Motivated by a simple physical picture, we calculate ICEO flows around conducting cylinders in steady (DC), oscillatory (AC), and suddenly-applied electric fields. This picture, and these systems, represent perhaps the clearest example of nonlinear electrokinetic phenomena. We complement and verify this physically-motivated approach using a matched asymptotic expansion to the electrokinetic equations in the thin double-layer and low potential limits. ICEO slip velocities vary like $u_s \propto E_0^2 L$, where $E_0$ is the field strength and $L$ is a geometric length scale, and are set up on a time scale $τ_c = λ_D L/D$, where $λ_D$ is the screening length and $D$ is the ionic diffusion constant. We propose and analyze ICEO microfluidic pumps and mixers that operate without moving parts under low applied potentials. Similar flows around metallic colloids with fixed total charge have been described in the Russian literature (largely unnoticed in the West). ICEO flows around conductors with fixed potential, on the other hand, have no colloidal analog and offer further possibilities for microfluidic applications.
Nonlinear behavior of electro-osmosis in dilute non-adsorbing polymer solutions with low salinity is investigated with Brownian dynamics simulations and a kinetic theory. In the Brownian simulations, the hydrodynamic interaction between the polymers and a no-slip wall is considered with Rotne-Prager approximation of Blake tensor. In a plug flow under a sufficiently strong applied electric field, the polymer migrates toward the bulk, forming a depletion layer thicker than the equilibrium one. Consequently, the electro-osmotic mobility increases nonlinearly with the electric field and gets satur…
The microchannel corner is a common inherent component of most planar microfluidic systems and thus its influence on the channel flow is of significant interest. Application of an alternating current electric field enables quantification of the non-linear induced-charge electro-osmosis (ICEO) ejection flow effect by isolating it from linear electro-osmotic background flow which is present under dc forcing. The hydrodynamic flow in the vicinity of a sharp channel corner is analyzed using experimental micro-particle-image-velocimetry (PIV) and numerical simulations for different buffer concentra…
Electro-osmosis (EO) is a powerful tool to manipulate liquids in micro and nanofluidic systems. While EO has been studied extensively at liquid-solid interfaces, the case of liquid-vapor interfaces, found e.g. in foam films and bubbles, remains to be explored. Here we perform molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of EO in a film of aqueous electrolyte covered with fluid layers of ionic surfactants and surrounded by gas. Following the experimental procedure, we compute the zeta potential from the EO velocity, defined as the velocity difference between the middle of the liquid film and the surroun…
We give a general theoretical description of electro-osmotic flow at striped super-hydrophobic surfaces in a thin double layer limit, and derive a relation between the electro-osmotic mobility and hydrodynamic slip-length tensors. Our analysis demonstrates that electro-osmotic flow shows a very rich behavior controlled by slip length and charge at the gas sectors. In case of uncharged liquid-gas interface, the flow is the same or inhibited relative to flow in homogeneous channel with zero interfacial slip. By contrast, it can be amplified by several orders of magnitude provided slip regions ar…
Since its prediction fifteen years ago, electro-osmotic instability has been attributed to non-equilibrium electro-osmosis related to the extended space charge which develops at the limiting current in the course of concentration polarization at a charge-selective interface. This attribution had a double basis. Firstly, it has been recognized that equilibrium electro-osmosis cannot yield instability for a perfectly charge-selective solid. Secondly, it has been shown that non-equilibrium electro-osmosis can. First theoretical studies in which electro-osmotic instability was predicted and analyz…
For a microchamber filled with a binary electrolyte and containing a flat un-biased center electrode at one wall, we employ three numerical models to study the strength of the resulting induced-charge electro-osmotic (ICEO) flow rolls: (i) a full nonlinear continuum model resolving the double layer, (ii) a linear slip-velocity model not resolving the double layer and without tangential charge transport inside this layer, and (iii) a nonlinear slip-velocity model extending the linear model by including the tangential charge transport inside the double layer. We show that compared to the full mo…
We analyze the AC electro-osmotic motion of a 1:1 aqueous solution, taking into account the difference in mobilities and diffusion coefficients between positive and negative ions. This model serves to understand the behavior of common systems as a solution of NaCl in water. We pay special attention to two cases. First, the case of slightly different mobilities, that can model a KCl solution. Second, the case of a strongly asymmetric solution, with an almost vanishing mobility, applicable to the case of a salt where the negative ion is much more massive than the positive one. For all the cases,…
We give a general, physical description of ``induced-charge electro-osmosis'' (ICEO), the nonlinear electrokinetic slip at a polarizable surface, in the context of some new techniques for microfluidic pumping and mixing. ICEO generalizes ``AC electro-osmosis'' at micro-electrode arrays to various dielectric and conducting structures in weak DC or AC electric fields. The basic effect produces micro-vortices to enhance mixing in microfluidic devices, while various broken symmetries -- controlled potential, irregular shape, non-uniform surface properties, and field gradients -- can be exploited t…
Theoretically and experimentally, we study electroviscous phenomena resulting from charge-flow coupling in a nanoscale capillary. Our theoretical approach relies on Poisson-Boltzmann mean-field theory and on coupled linear relations for charge and hydrodynamic flows, including electro-osmosis and charge advection. With respect to the unperturbed Poiseuille flow, we define an electroviscous coupling parameter $ξ$, which turns out to be maximum where the film thickness $h_0$ is comparable to the screening length $λ$. We also present dynamic AFM data for the visco-elastic response of a confined w…
Induced-charge electro-osmosis (ICEO) is shown to control the length scale of the diffusion layer (DL), which in turn, affects the diffusion limited ion transport through the microchannel-Nafion membrane system. The ICEO vortices form at an interdigitated floating electrode array embedded within a microchannel interfacing a Nafion membrane and stir the fluid, arresting the diffusive growth of the depletion layer. By varying the spacing between the array and the membrane we are able to control the length of the DL. Activating the electrodes results in further enhancement of the fluid stirring d…
We consider laminar flow of incompressible electrolytes in long, straight channels driven by pressure and electro-osmosis. We use a Hilbert space eigenfunction expansion to address the general problem of an arbitrary cross section and obtain general results in linear-response theory for the mass and charge transport coefficients which satisfy Onsager relations. In the limit of non-overlapping Debye layers the transport coefficients are simply expressed in terms of parameters of the electrolyte as well as the hydraulic radius R=2A/P with A and P being the cross-sectional area and perimeter, res…
We report that an electro-osmotic instability of concentration enrichment in curved geometries for an aqueous electrolyte, as opposed to the well-known one, is initiated exclusively at the enriched interface (anode), rather than at the depleted one (cathode). For this instability, the limitation of unrealistically high material Peclet number in planar geometry is eliminated by the strong electric field arising from the line charge singularity. In a model setup of concentric circular electrodes, we show by stability analysis, numerical simulation, and experimental visualization that instability…
The venerable theory of electrokinetic phenomena rests on the hypothesis of a dilute solution of point-like ions near a weakly charged surface, whose potential relative to the bulk is of order the thermal voltage ($kT/e \approx 25$ mV at room temperature). In nonlinear electrokinetic phenomena, such as AC or induced-charge electro-osmosis (ACEO, ICEO) and induced-charge electrophoresis (ICEP), several Volts $\approx 100 kT/e$ are applied to polarizable surfaces in microscopic geometries, and the resulting electric fields and induced surface charges are large enough to violate the assumptions o…
Numerical analyses of transient electro-osmosis of a typical non-Newtonian liquid induced by DC and AC electric fields in a rectangular microchannel are conducted in the framework of continuum fluid mechanics. The famous power-law constitutive model is used to express the fluid dynamic viscosity in terms of the velocity gradient. Transient start-up characteristics of electro-osmotic power-law liquid flow in rectangular microchannels are simulated by using finite element method. Under a DC electric field, it is found out and the fluid is more inert to the external electric field and the steady-…
We consider sedimented at a solid wall particles that are immersed in water containing small additives of photosensitive ionic surfactants. It is shown that illumination with an appropriate wavelength, a beam intensity profile, shape and size could lead to a variety of dynamic, both unsteady and steady-state, configurations of particles. These dynamic, well-controlled and switchable particle patterns at the wall are due to an emerging diffusio-osmotic flow that takes its origin in the adjacent to the wall electrostatic diffuse layer, where the concentration gradients of surfactant are induced …
We characterize the dynamics of an electrolyte embedded in a varying-section channel under the action of a constant external electrostatic field. By means of molecular dynamics simulations we determine the stationary density, charge and velocity profiles of the electrolyte. Our results show that when the Debye length is comparable to the width of the channel bottlenecks a concentration polarization along with two eddies sets inside the channel. Interestingly, upon increasing the external field, local electroneutrality breaks down and charge polarization sets leading to the onset of net dipolar…
