Nano-electrokinetic ion enrichment in a micro-nanofluidic preconcentrator with nanochannel’s Cantor fractal wall structure

Abstract

The detection of ultra-low concentration of biomacromolecules remains the focus of research in micro-nanofluidic systems. Sample enrichment is primarily targeted at very low concentration of sample detection tasks. The use of ion concentration polarization principle is the most efficient means to solve the problem of electrokinetic ion enrichment. In this paper, numerical simulation of nano-electrokinetic ion enrichment in a micro-nanofluidic preconcentrator with nanochannel’s Cantor fractal wall structure was performed based on Poisson–Nernst–Planck equation combined with the Navier–Stokes equation. The results show that reducing the initial length L0, increasing the initial height h0, increasing the fractal step n and using the unstaggered structure in the Cantor fractal principle can increase the ion enrichment concentration and peak voltage. The initial ion concentration is 0.1 mol/m3. When the applied voltage is 30 V and the initial height h0 increases from 35 to 45 nm, the ion enrichment concentration drastically increases from 1.007 to 1.410 mol/m3 by 40%. This study provides a theoretical basis and a novel design method for improving the sensitivity of micro-nanofluidic chips and the design of ultra-low concentration sample testing equipment.