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 to produce streaming flows. Although we emphasize the qualitative picture of ICEO, we also briefly describe the mathematical theory (for thin double layers and weak fields) and apply it to a metal cylinder with a dielectric coating in a suddenly applied DC field.
The performances of lubricated systems widely used in natural, biological, and artificial settings are traditionally dictated by their load bearing capacities. Here we unveil that, by exploiting a unique coupling between interfacial electro-mechanics, hydrodynamics and substrate compliance, it is plausible to realize a massive augmentation in the load bearing capacities ofcompliant microfluidic channels. Our analysis demonstrates that the interplay between wettability and charge modulation in association with the solution chemistry and surface compliance results in this remarkable phenomenon. …
An electrokinetically-driven deterministic lateral displacement (e-DLD) device is proposed for the continuous, two-dimensional fractionation of suspensions in microfluidic platforms. The suspended species are driven through an array of regularly spaced cylindrical posts by applying an electric field across the device. We explore the entire range of orientations of the driving field with respect to the array of obstacles and show that, at specific forcing-angles, particles of different size migrate in different directions, thus enabling continuous, two-dimensional separation. We discuss a numbe…
Dielectrophoresis is a very promising technique for particle manipulation on a chip. In this study, we demonstrate a controlled mannuvering of polystryrene particles on a simple paper-and-pencil based device by exploiting the underlying electrokinetics with primary contribution from dielectrophoretic (DEP) forces. On contrary to other reported DEP devices, the present configuration does not demand a shophitcated laboratory module for creating a non-uniform electric field, which is essential requirement in DEP settings. We demonstrate positive dielectrophoresis (pDEP) to trap 1 um size polystyr…
This study presents a detailed investigation of how the rheological behaviour of fluid could influence the electrokinetic instability (EKI) phenomenon in a microfluidic T-junction. The non-Newtonian power-law model with different values of the power-law index (n) is used to obtain fluids of different rheological behaviours. We find that as the fluid rheological behaviour changes from shear-thickening (n > 1) to shear-thinning (n < 1) via the Newtonian (n = 1) one, the EKI phenomenon is significantly influenced under the same conditions. In particular, the intensity of this EKI phenomenon is fo…
Free-surface electrokinetic flows have been attracting increasing attention from the research community over recent times, as attributable to their diverse fields of applications ranging from fluid mixing, particle manipulation to bio-chemical processing on a chip. Traditional electrokinetic processes governing free surface flows are mostly effective in manipulating fluids having characteristically low values of the electrical conductivity (lower than 0.085 S/m). Biological and biochemical processes, on the other hand, typically aim to manipulate fluids having higher electrical conductivities.…
This fluid dynamics video showcases how optically induced electrokinetic forces can be used to drive three-dimensional micro-vortices. The strong microfluidic vortices are used constructively in conjunction with other electrokinetic forces to dynamically and rapidly aggregate particle groups. Particle manipulation is achieved on the surface of a parallel-plate gold/indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode that is illuminated with near-infrared (1064 nm) optical patterns and biased with a low frequency ($<$ 100 kHz) alternating current (AC) signal. The fluid dynamics video shows how electrokinetically …
Microfluidic chips have been fabricated to study electrokinetic pumping generated by a low voltage AC signal applied to an asymmetric electrode array. A measurement procedure has been established and followed carefully resulting in a high degree of reproducibility of the measurements. Depending on the ionic concentration as well as the amplitude of the applied voltage, the observed direction of the DC flow component is either forward or reverse. The impedance spectrum has been thoroughly measured and analyzed in terms of an equivalent circuit diagram. Our observations agree qualitatively, but …
When two fluids of different electrical conductivities are transported side by side in a microfluidic device under the influence of an electric field, an electrokinetic instability (EKI) is often generated after some critical values of the applied electric field strength and conductivity ratio. Many prior experimental and numerical studies show that this phenomenon results in a chaotic flow field inside a microdevice, thereby facilitating the mixing of two fluids if they are Newtonian in behaviour. However, the present numerical study shows that this chaotic convection arising due to the elect…
Electrokinetic boundary conditions are derived for AC electrokinetic (ACEK) phenomena over leaky dielectric (i.e., semiconducting) surfaces. Such boundary conditions correlate the electric potentials across the semiconductor-electrolyte interface (consisting of the electric double layer (EDL) inside the electrolyte solutions and the space charge layer (SCL) inside the semiconductors) under AC electric fields with arbitrary wave forms. The present electrokinetic boundary conditions allow for evaluation of induced zeta potential contributed by both bond charges (due to electric polarization) and…
Classical theory of the electric double layer is based on the fundamental assumption of a dilute solution of point ions. There are a number of situations such as high applied voltages, high concentration of electrolytes, systems with multivalent ions, or solvent-free ionic liquids where the classical theory is often applied but the fundamental assumptions cannot be justified. Perhaps the most basic assumption underlying continuum models in electrokinetics is the mean-field approximation, that the electric field acting on each discrete ion is self-consistently determined by the local mean charg…
We show that when particles are suspended in an electrolyte confined between corrugated charged surfaces, electrokinetic flows lead to a new set of phenomena such as particle separation, mixing for low-Reynolds micro- and nano-metric devices and negative mobility. Our analysis shows that such phenomena arise, for incompressible fluids, due to the interplay between the electrostatic double layer and the corrugated geometrical confinement and that they are magnified when the width of the channel is comparable to the Debye length. Our characterization allows us to understand the physical origin o…
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 transport behavior in nanochannels is different to that in larger sized channels. Specifically, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in nanochannels have demonstrated two little understood phenomena which are not observed in microchannels, being: (i) the decrease of average electroosmotic mobility at high surface charge density, and (ii) the decrease of channel conductance at high salt concentrations, as the surface charge is increased. However, current electric double layer models do not capture these results. In this study we provide evidence that this inconsistency primarily a…
We present an efficient and robust numerical model for simulation of electrokinetic phenomena in porous networks over a wide range of applications including energy conversion, desalination, and lab-on-a-chip systems. Coupling between fluid flow and ion transport in these networks is governed by the Poisson-Nernst-Planck-Stokes equations. These equations describe a wide range of transport phenomena that can interact in complex and highly nonlinear ways in networks involving multiple pores with variable properties. Capturing these phenomena by direct simulation of the governing equations in mult…
We develop an electrokinetic technique that continuously manipulates colloidal particles to concentrate into patterned particulate groups in an energy efficient way, by exclusive harnessing of the intrinsic Joule heating effects. Our technique exploits the alternating current electrothermal flow phenomenon which is generated due to the interaction between non-uniform electric and thermal fields. Highly non-uniform electric field generates sharp temperature gradients by generating spatially-varying Joule heat that varies along radial direction from a concentrated point hotspot. Sharp temperatur…
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…
We have developed a microfluidic tool to measure the diffusion coefficient $D$ of solutes in an aqueous solution, by following the temporal relaxation of an initially steep concentration gradient in a microchannel. Our chip exploits multilayer soft lithography and the opening of a pneumatic microvalve to trigger the interdiffusion of pure water and the solution initially separated in the channel by the valve, the so-called free interface diffusion technique. Another microvalve at a distance from the diffusion zone closes the channel and thus suppresses convection. Using this chip, we have meas…
We provide some general theoretical results to guide the optimization of transverse hydrodynamic phenomena in superhydrophobic channels. Our focus is on the canonical micro- and nanofluidic geometry of a parallel-plate channel with an arbitrary two-component (low-slip and high-slip) coarse texture, varying on scales larger than the channel thickness. By analyzing rigorous bounds on the permeability, over all possible patterns, we optimize the area fractions, slip lengths, geometry and orientation of the surface texture to maximize transverse flow. In the case of two aligned striped surfaces, v…
We discuss an electro-osmotic flow near charged porous coatings of a finite hydrodynamic permeability, impregnated with an outer electrolyte solution. It is shown that their electrokinetic (zeta) potential is generally augmented compared to the surface electrostatic potential, thanks to a large liquid slip at their surface emerging due to an electro-osmotic flow in the enriched by counter-ions porous films. The inner flow shows a very rich behavior controlled by the volume charge density of the coating, its Brinkman length, and concentration of added salt. Interestingly, even for relatively sm…
Ultrasound-driven oscillating micro-bubbles have been used as active actuators in microfluidic devices to perform manifold tasks such as mixing, sorting and manipulation of microparticles. A common configuration consists on side-bubbles, created by trapping air pockets in blind channels perpendicular to the main channel direction. This configuration consists of acoustically excited bubbles with a semi-cylindrical shape that generate significant streaming flow. Due to the geometry of the channels, such flows have been generally considered as quasi two-dimensional. Similar assumptions are often …
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-…
Patterned surfaces with large effective slip lengths, such as super-hydrophobic surfaces containing trapped gas bubbles, have the potential to greatly enhance electrokinetic phenomena. Existing theories assume either homogeneous flat surfaces or patterned surfaces with thin double layers (compared to the texture correlation length) and thus predict simple surface-averaged, isotropic flows (independent of orientation). By analyzing electro-osmotic flows over striped slip-stick surfaces with arbitrary double-layer thickness, we show that surface anisotropy generally leads to a tensorial electro-…
The charging and dissolution of mineral surfaces in contact with flowing liquids are ubiquitous in nature, as most minerals in water spontaneously acquire charge and dissolve. Mineral dissolution has been studied extensively under equilibrium conditions, even though non-equilibrium phenomena are pervasive and substantially affect the mineral-water interface. Here we demonstrate using interface-specific spectroscopy that liquid flow along a calcium fluoride surface creates a reversible, spatial charge gradient, with decreasing surface charge downstream of the flow. The surface charge gradient c…
Electrohydrodynamic instabilities of fluid-fluid interfaces can be exploited in various microfluidic applications in order to enhance mixing, replicate well-controlled patterns or generate drops of a particular size. In this work, we study the stability and dynamics of a system of three superimposed layers of two immiscible fluids subject to a normal electric field. Following the Taylor-Melcher leaky dielectric model, the bulk remains electroneutral while a net charge accumulates on the interfaces. The interfacial charge dynamics is captured by a conservation equation accounting for Ohmic cond…
Advent of nematic liquid crystals flows have attracted renewed attention in view of microfluidic transport phenomena. Among various transport processes, electroosmosis stands as one of the efficient flow actuation method through narrow confinement. In the present study, we explore the electrically actuated flow of a nematic fluid with ionic inclusions taking into account the influences from surface induced elastic and electrical double layer phenomena. Influence of surface effects on the flow characteristics is known to get augmented in micro-confined environment and must be properly addressed…
Possible mechanisms of overlimiting current in unsupported electrolytes, exceeding diffusion limitation, have been intensely studied for their fundamental significance and applications to desalination, separations, sensing, and energy storage. In bulk membrane systems, the primary physical mechanism is electro-convection, driven by electro-osmotic instability on the membrane surface. It has recently been predicted that confinement by charged surfaces in microchannels or porous media favors two new mechanisms, electro-osmotic flow (EOF) and surface conduction (SC), driven by large electric fiel…
We have discovered that room temperature liquid metal is capable of penetrating through macro- and microporous materials by applying a voltage. In this work, we demonstrate the liquid metal penetration effect in various porous materials such as tissue paper, thick and fine sponges, fabrics, and meshes. The penetration effect mimics one of the three well-known superfluid properties of liquid helium superfluid that only occur at near-zero Kelvin. The underlying mechanism is that the high surface tension of liquid metal can be significantly reduced to near-zero due to the voltage induced oxidatio…
Processes based on electrostatic projection are used extensively in industry, e.g. for mineral separations, electrophotography or manufacturing of coated abrasives, such as sandpaper. Despite decades of engineering practice, there are still unanswered questions. In this paper, we present a comprehensive experimental study of projection process of more than 1500 individual spherical alumina particles with a nominal size of 500 $μ$m, captured by high-speed video imaging and digital image analysis. Based on flight trajectories of approximately 1100 projected particles, we determined the acquired …
