Electrothermally Modulated Dispersion in Viscoelastic Fluids on Patterned Surfaces

TL;DR

This paper investigates how electrothermal effects and surface charge patterning can be used to enhance solute dispersion in viscoelastic fluids within microchannels, offering insights for improved microfluidic device design.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis of electrothermal flow in viscoelastic fluids with patterned surfaces, highlighting the combined effects on dispersion control.

Findings

Dispersion coefficient can be significantly increased through parameter tuning.

Temperature-dependent fluid properties influence flow and dispersion.

Surface charge patterning synergizes with thermal effects to optimize flow dynamics.

Abstract

Augmenting the dispersion of a solute species remains a challenging topic in electroosmotically-actuated flows due to the inherent plug-like feature of its velocity profile. In this study, we improvise on electrothermal flow of viscoelastic fluids through a parallel-plate microchannel with patterned surface charge to depict augmented dispersion coefficient of a solute. Here we consider the physical properties of the fluid to be temperature-dependent, thus, bringing out the combinatorial effect of both the thermal perturbation as well as the surface modulation on the resulting dynamics. This analysis unveils that by making a judicious choice of pertinent parameters one can control the flow rate with the desired account of dispersion. We envisage that the intricate coupling between the electrothermal perturbation and surface charge modulation combined with the fluid rheology may have tremendous implications towards the efficient designing of microfluidic devices.