Significance of Synthetic Cilia and Arrhenius Energy on Double Diffusive Stream of Radiated Hybrid Nanofluid in Microfluidic Pump under Ohmic Heating: An Entropic Analysis

This study investigates the thermal aspects of magnetohydrodynamic double diffusive flow of a radiated Cu-CuO/Casson hybrid nano-liquid through a microfluidic pump in the presence of electroosmosis effects. Shared effects of the Arrhenius activation energy and the Joule heating on the intended liquid transport are also incorporated. The inner wall of the pump is covered with electrically charged fabricated cilia mat that facilitates flow actuation and micro-mixing process. The governing equations for the proposed problem are simplified by utilizing the Debye-Hückel and lubrication approximations. The numerical solutions are calculated with the aid of shooting technique. The analysis reports that the substantial effects of electroosmosis contribute an important role in cooling process. Existence of electric double layer stimulates an escalation in liquid stream in the vicinity of the pump surface. The Arrhenius energy input strengthens the mass dispersion and regulates the thermal treatment. The proposed geometry delivers a deep perception that fabricated cilia in electroosmotic pumps are potential pharmaceutical micromixers for an effective flow and minimum entropy generation rate.

Fused Filament Fabrication 3D Printed Polylactic Acid Electroosmotic Pumps

Additive manufacturing (3D printing) offers a flexible approach for the production of bespoke microfluidic structures such as the electroosmotic pump. Here a readily accessible fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing...

Asymmetric electroosmotic pumping across porous media sandwiched with perforated ion-exchange membranes

To have non-zero net flow in AC electroosmotic pumps, the electroosmosis (EO) has to be non-linear and asymmetric. This can be achieved due to ionic concentration polarization. This is known to occur close to micro-/nano-interfaces provided that the sizes of the nanopores are not too large compared to the Debye screening length. However, operation of the corresponding EO pumps can be quite sensitive to the solution concentration and, thus, unstable in practical applications. Concentration polarization of ion-exchange membranes is much more robust. However, the hydraulic permeability of the membrane is very low, which makes EO flows through them extremely small. This communication shows theoretically how this problem can be resolved via making scarce microscopic perforations in an ion-exchange membrane and putting it in series with an EO-active nano-porous medium. The problem of coupled flow, concentration and electrostatic-potential distributions is solved numerically by using finite-element methods. This analysis reveals that even quite scarce perforations of micron-scale diameters are sufficient to observe practically-interesting EO flows in the system. If the average distance between the perforations is smaller than the thickness of the EO-active layer, there is an effective homogenization of the electrolyte concentration and hydrostatic pressure in the lateral direction at some distance from the interface. The simulations show this distance to be somewhat lower than the half-distance between the perforations. On the other hand, when the surface fraction of perforations is sufficiently small (below a fraction of a percent) this “homogeneous” concentration is considerably reduced (or increased, depending on the current direction), which makes the EO strongly non-linear and asymmetric. This analysis provides initial guidance for the design of high-productivity and inexpensive AC electroosmotic pumps.

Bubble Free High Efficiency Electroosmotic Pumps

In generating high electroosmotic flows for use in microfluidic pumps, a limiting factor is faradaic reactions which appear at high electric fields. These reactions lead to higher power consumption and bubble generation at the electrodes. We are proposing a novel technique that can limit and even prevent gas generation. This will extend the current range of operation of electroosmotic pumps. This is achieved by applying a unidirectional pulsed DC voltage waveform. The optimum pulse voltage waveform (OPW) tested is based on a theoretical model developed by the authors [1]. The power consumed and the efficiency of an electroosmotic pump under the pulsed DC voltage is measured experimentally and compared with the conventional bipolar rectangular voltage waveform (BRW). Results show an increase in the efficiency for the OPW when compared to the BRW. This increase in efficiency is obtained by preventing the reverse cycle in the BRW which flows against the pumping direction.