scholarly journals Liquid Mixing Based on Electrokinetic Vortices Generated in a T-Type Microchannel

Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 130
Author(s):  
Chengfa Wang

This article proposes a micromixer based on the vortices generated in a T-type microchannel with nonuniform but same polarity zeta potentials under a direct current (DC) electric field. The downstream section (modified section) of the outlet channel was designed with a smaller zeta potential than others (unmodified section). When a DC electric field is applied in the microchannel, the electrokinetic vortices will form under certain conditions and hence mix the solution. The numerical results show that the mixing performance is better when the channel width and the zeta potential ratio of the modified section to the unmodified section are smaller. Besides, the electrokinetic vortices formed in the microchannel are stronger under a larger length ratio of the modified section to the unmodified section of the outlet channel, and correspondingly, the mixing performance is better. The micromixer presented in the paper is quite simple in structure and has good potential applications in microfluidic devices.

Author(s):  
Shizhi Qian ◽  
Haim H. Bau

Two dimensional, time-independent and time-dependent electroosmotic flows driven by a uniform electric field in rectangular cavities with uniform and non-uniform zeta potential distributions along the cavities’ walls are investigated theoretically. The time-independent flow fields are computed with the aid of Fourier series. The series’ convergence is accelerated so that highly accurate solutions are obtained with just a few (<10) terms in the series. The analytic solution is used to compute flow patterns for various distributions of the zeta potential along the cavities’ boundaries. It is demonstrated that by time-wise periodic modulation of the zeta potentials, one can induce chaotic advection in the cavities. Such chaotic flows may be used to stir and mix fluids in microfluidic devices.


Atoms ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Jianing Han ◽  
Juliet Mitchell ◽  
Morgan Umstead

In this article, the atom excitation suppression is studied in two mechanisms. The first mechanism for excitation suppression is caused by an external DC electric field. The second mechanism is due to the energy shift caused by an electric field generated by free charges, which are created by ionizing atoms. The latter mechanism is known as the Coulomb blockade. Here, the Coulomb forces originate from ions created by ionizing atoms with a UV laser. The interaction, which causes the suppression, is treated theoretically as dipole–charge interactions. In the model, the charge is an ion, and the dipole is an atom. From measurements, we use 85Rb atoms. The valence electron and the ion core are the two poles of an electric dipole. The interaction potential energy between the ion and the atom is proportional to 1R2, and the frequency shift caused by this interaction is proportional to 1R4, where R is the distance between the ion and the dipole considered. This research is motivated by potential applications for quantum information storage, remote control, creating hot plasmas using cold atoms, as well as electronic devices.


1997 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 560-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Young ◽  
G. Smistad ◽  
J. Karlsen ◽  
G. Rölla ◽  
M. Rykke

The zeta potential of human enamel is of physiological importance for interactions between enamel surfaces and the surrounding aqueous medium of saliva. The zeta potentials of both enamel and hydroxyapatite (HA) have been examined previously by various techniques. In this study, we examined the zeta potential of human enamel and HA using the Coulter® DELSA 440, which, by a laser, makes independent Doppler shift measurements of moving particles in an electric field at 4 different angles, providing advantages over previous techniques. The enamel and HA particles were suspended directly in different phosphate buffers, or first incubated for 2 hrs in parotid (PS) or whole saliva (HWS) and then suspended in the same buffers. The enamel and HA particles exhibited an overall net surface potential of -15 to -30 mV, depending on the buffer content. Incubation in PS and HWS gave less negative potentials of -8 to -14 mV. In our previous studies, the salivary micelle-like structures (SMSs), seen in TEM of parotid saliva, were observed to have a zeta potential of -9 mV (Rykke et al., 1996). The zeta potential determinations in this study support the concept of an adsorption of mostly SMSs to the enamel surfaces, with a change of the zeta potential of the enamel and HA toward that of the SMSs.


Author(s):  
Md Fazlay Rubby ◽  
Mohammad Salman Parvez ◽  
Prosanto Biswas ◽  
Hasina Huq ◽  
Nazmul Islam

Abstract Fluid flows in a microchannel with highly ordered laminar fashion. For this reason, two different fluid streams cannot mix easily, or it takes a very long time. The problem becomes intense for large molecules such as peptides, proteins, and nucleic acids during rapid mixing for biochemical applications in a microfluidic device. Many researchers tried to solve this problem by applying an electric potential. In this work, a numerical simulation was performed on a 2D micromixer. Four symmetric electrodes were placed on the wall of a straight microchannel of width 19 μm. The electroosmotic slip velocity boundary condition was used to create the turbulence on the laminar fluid stream. It was found that this model creates a well-mixed flow at the channel outlet. Then the input parameters were changed to compare the mixing performance in terms of concentration distribution at the channel outlet. Channel width, inter-electrodes gap, the magnitude of electric potential, frequency of the electric potential and asymmetricity of the electrodes were changed and results were compared. An experimental micromixer like the numerical model was fabricated by dc magnetron sputtering machine. Four gold electrodes (thickness, 120 nm) were sputtered on top of a silicon substrate. The value of the input parameters was chosen based on the results obtained from the numerical simulation. To test the mixing functionality of our device the movement of tracer particles was tracked down on the zone surrounded by four electrodes. The micro-PIV (Particulate Image Velocimetry) system was used to analyze the movement of the tracer particles and visualize the flow field in the mixing zone. The magnitude of the AC electric potential and frequency was changed to find out the optimum input parameters for the micromixer. These results could play an important role to design and improve a micromixer design using an AC electric field. A micromixer has many potential applications in biology (DNA analysis, enzyme Screening), chemistry (synthesis, polymerization) and detection (drug discovery, diagnosis).


1990 ◽  
Vol 68 (8) ◽  
pp. 3865-3871 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian‐chun Cheng ◽  
Shu‐yi Zhang ◽  
Yue‐sheng Lu

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramin Zakeri

AbstractOne of the unresolved issues in physiology is how exactly myosin moves in a filament as the smallest responsible organ for contracting of a natural muscle. In this research, inspired by nature, a model is presented consisting of DPD (dissipative particle dynamics) particles driven by electro-osmotic flow (EOF) in micro channel that a thin movable impermeable polymer membrane has been attached across channel width, thus momentum of fluid can directly transfer to myosin stem. At the first, by validation of electro-osmotic flow in micro channel in different conditions with accuracy of less than 10 percentage error compared to analytical results, the DPD results have been developed to displacement of an impermeable polymer membrane in EOF. It has been shown that by the presence of electric field of 250 V/m and Zeta potential − 25 mV and the dimensionless ratio of the channel width to the thickness of the electric double layer or kH = 8, about 15% displacement in 8 s time will be obtained compared to channel width. The influential parameters on the displacement of the polymer membrane from DPD particles in EOF such as changes in electric field, ion concentration, zeta potential effect, polymer material and the amount of membrane elasticity have been investigated which in each cases, the radius of gyration and auto correlation velocity of different polymer membrane cases have been compared together. This simulation method in addition of probably helping understand natural myosin displacement mechanism, can be extended to design the contraction of an artificial muscle tissue close to nature.


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