Electrokinetic mixing of two fluids with equivalent conductivity

doi:10.1016/j.cjche.2021.03.032

Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering ›› 2022, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (2): 256-260.DOI: 10.1016/j.cjche.2021.03.032

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Electrokinetic mixing of two fluids with equivalent conductivity

Fang Yang¹, Wei Zhao², Guiren Wang^2,3

1. Key Laboratory for Molecular Enzymology and Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China;
2. Institute of Photonics and Photon-technology, International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Photoelectric Technology and Functional Materials and Application, Northwest University, Xi'an 710127, China;
3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA

Received:2020-03-03 Revised:2021-03-05 Online:2022-03-30 Published:2022-02-28
Contact: Guiren Wang,E-mail:guirenwang@sc.edu
Supported by:
The work is partially supported by the North American Mixing Forum (NAMF), NSF CAREER (CBET-0954977), the National Natural Science Foundation of China(21705055), Science and Technology Development Planning Program of Jilin Province (20190201178JC), Jilin Province Industrial Technology Research and Development Project(2019C048-5).

Electrokinetic mixing of two fluids with equivalent conductivity

Fang Yang¹, Wei Zhao², Guiren Wang^2,3

1. Key Laboratory for Molecular Enzymology and Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China;
2. Institute of Photonics and Photon-technology, International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Photoelectric Technology and Functional Materials and Application, Northwest University, Xi'an 710127, China;
3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA

通讯作者: Guiren Wang,E-mail:guirenwang@sc.edu
基金资助:
The work is partially supported by the North American Mixing Forum (NAMF), NSF CAREER (CBET-0954977), the National Natural Science Foundation of China(21705055), Science and Technology Development Planning Program of Jilin Province (20190201178JC), Jilin Province Industrial Technology Research and Development Project(2019C048-5).

Abstract

Abstract: Electrokinetic (EK) micromixers have been widely studied in the past decade for biochemical applications, biological and chemical analysis, etc. Unfortunately, almost all EK mixers require different electrical conductivity between the two fluids to be mixed, which has greatly limited their wide applications, in cases where the two streams to be mixed have equivalent electrical conductivity. Here we show that mixing enhancement between two fluids with identical conductivity can be achieved in an EK micromixer with conductive sidewalls, where the electric field is in transverse direction of the flow. The results revealed that the mixing became stronger with increased conductivity value. This mixing method provides a novel and convenient strategy for mixing two liquids with the same or similar electrical conductivity in microfluidic systems, and could potentially serves as a powerful tool for sample preparation in applications such as liquid biopsy, and environmental monitoring, etc.

Key words: Microfluidics, Microchannels, Mixing, Electrokinetics, Micromixer

摘要： Electrokinetic (EK) micromixers have been widely studied in the past decade for biochemical applications, biological and chemical analysis, etc. Unfortunately, almost all EK mixers require different electrical conductivity between the two fluids to be mixed, which has greatly limited their wide applications, in cases where the two streams to be mixed have equivalent electrical conductivity. Here we show that mixing enhancement between two fluids with identical conductivity can be achieved in an EK micromixer with conductive sidewalls, where the electric field is in transverse direction of the flow. The results revealed that the mixing became stronger with increased conductivity value. This mixing method provides a novel and convenient strategy for mixing two liquids with the same or similar electrical conductivity in microfluidic systems, and could potentially serves as a powerful tool for sample preparation in applications such as liquid biopsy, and environmental monitoring, etc.

关键词: Microfluidics, Microchannels, Mixing, Electrokinetics, Micromixer

Fang Yang, Wei Zhao, Guiren Wang. Electrokinetic mixing of two fluids with equivalent conductivity[J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2022, 42(2): 256-260.

Fang Yang, Wei Zhao, Guiren Wang. Electrokinetic mixing of two fluids with equivalent conductivity[J]. 中国化学工程学报, 2022, 42(2): 256-260.

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Electrokinetic mixing of two fluids with equivalent conductivity

Electrokinetic mixing of two fluids with equivalent conductivity

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