Abstract
The rectification of electro-osmotic flows is important in micro- and nano-fluidics applications such as micropumps and energy conversion devices. Here, we propose a simple electro-osmotic diode in which colloidal particles are contained between two parallel membranes with different pore densities. While the flow in the forward direction just pushes the colloidal particles toward the high-pore-density membrane, the backward flow is blocked by the particles near the low-pore-density membrane, which clog the pores. Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations show a strong nonlinear dependence on the electric field for both the electric current and electro-osmotic flow, indicating diode characteristics. A mathematical model to reproduce the electro-osmotic diode behavior is constructed, introducing an effective pore diameter as a model for pores clogged by the colloidal particles. Good agreement is obtained between the proposed model with estimated parameter values and the results of direct molecular dynamics simulations. The proposed electro-osmotic diode has potential application in downsized microfluidic pumps, e.g., the pump induced under AC electric fields.
6 More- Received 31 May 2021
- Accepted 7 September 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.033289
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.
Published by the American Physical Society