Combined electroosmosis-pressure driven flow and mixing in a microchannel with surface heterogeneity

Abstract

We investigate the combined pressure-driven electroosmotic flow near a wall roughness in the form of a rectangular block mounted on one wall of an infinitely long microchannel. The insulated rectangular block has a constant surface potential which is different from the surface potential of the remaining part of the channel walls. The characteristics for the electrokinetic flow are obtained by numerically solving the Navier–Stokes equations coupled with the Nernst–Planck equation for ion transport and the Poisson equation for electric field. Vortical flow develops above the block when the surface potential of the block is in opposite sign to that of the surface potential of the channel. The strength of the re-circulating vortex grows as the surface potential of the block increases. Vortical flow also depends on the Debye length when it is in the order of the channel height. The combined effects due to the geometrical modulation of the channel wall and heterogeneity in surface potential is found to produce a stronger vortex and hence a stronger mixing, as compared with the effect of either of these. The recirculating vortex, which appears on the upper face of the block, grows and the average electroosmotic velocity increases with the increase of the electrolyte concentration. The recirculating vortex does not appear when EDL is thick and the effect of over-potential of the block on electroosmosis is negligible. The loss of momentum near the obstacle is compensated by the electrostatic force near the EDL, which prevents flow separation upstream or downstream of the obstacle. The mixing performance of the present configuration is compared with several other cases of surface modulation. The impact of the imposed pressure gradient on the vortical flow due to surface heterogeneity is analyzed.