In-situ AC electroosmotic and thermal perturbation effects for wide range of ionic strength

Abstract

AC electrokinetic flow is promising in designing microfluidic chips for manipulation of biological and chemical samples toward clinical diagnostics. Four pieces of electrodes are optimized to enhance mixing effect inside a straight microchannel. In this research, the mixing dependency on the ionic strength of solutions is investigated. AC electroosmotic secondary flow is responsible for the mixing at low ionic strength (σ 5 mS m–1). The electrode-electrolyte impedance analysis is employed to facilitate the in-situation mixing process by choosing appropriate electrical excitation parameters for the electrodes.