Nonlinear Effects on Electrophoresis of a Soft Particle and Sustained Solute Release

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A numerical study is made on the electrophoresis of a core-shell soft particle based on the first principle of electrophoresis. The soft particle consists of a charged rigid core coated with a polymer shell. Numerical computations for the electrophoretic velocity are obtained and compared with the existing analytical solution. The analytical solutions, based on the Boltzmann distribution of ions and the Debye–Huckel approximation, are valid for lower range of charge density, weak applied electric field and thin double layer. Discrepancy from the existing analytical solution is found when the Debye layer extends beyond the porous shell. This discrepancy becomes larger for higher values of the rigid core surface potential, fixed charge density of the soft shell and stronger imposed electric field. The double-layer polarization is found to have a strong impact when the shell thickness is lower than the Debye length. The electrophoretic velocity is found to vary nonlinearly with the imposed electric field when the imposed field strength is large enough to create a potential drop across the particle bigger than the thermal potential. We have also analyzed the mechanism of sustained solute release from the soft particle. Our results show that the rate of solute release is large compared to a pure diffusion dominated process.