An electrokinetic route to giant augmentation in load bearing capacity of compliant microfluidic channels

TL;DR

This paper introduces an electrokinetic approach that significantly enhances the load bearing capacity of compliant microfluidic channels by leveraging interfacial electro-mechanics, hydrodynamics, and substrate compliance, revealing new design possibilities.

Contribution

It uncovers a novel electrokinetic mechanism that massively increases load capacity in microfluidic channels through interfacial coupling effects.

Findings

Massive load capacity augmentation observed.

Interplay of wettability, charge, and compliance is key.

Potential for new bio-mimetic device designs.

Abstract

The performances of lubricated systems widely used in natural, biological, and artificial settings are traditionally dictated by their load bearing capacities. Here we unveil that, by exploiting a unique coupling between interfacial electro-mechanics, hydrodynamics and substrate compliance, it is plausible to realize a massive augmentation in the load bearing capacities ofcompliant microfluidic channels. Our analysis demonstrates that the interplay between wettability and charge modulation in association with the solution chemistry and surface compliance results in this remarkable phenomenon. These results are likely to open up novel design paradigms of augmenting the load bearing capacities of miniaturized bio-mimetic units through the realization of a symmetry breaking phenomenon triggered by asymmetries in electromechanical and hydrodynamic transport over interfacial scales.