Electro-osmotic Instability of Concentration Enrichment in Curved Geometries for an Aqueous Electrolyte

TL;DR

This paper discovers a new electro-osmotic instability at the anode in curved geometries, driven by electric fields from line charge singularities, potentially improving salt enrichment processes like reverse osmosis.

Contribution

It identifies a novel instability at the anode in curved geometries, extending understanding of electro-osmotic behavior beyond planar systems.

Findings

Instability occurs at the anode, not the cathode.

Critical electric field triggers the instability.

Stability criterion extended to arbitrary geometries.

Abstract

We report that an electro-osmotic instability of concentration enrichment in curved geometries for an aqueous electrolyte, as opposed to the well-known one, is initiated exclusively at the enriched interface (anode), rather than at the depleted one (cathode). For this instability, the limitation of unrealistically high material Peclet number in planar geometry is eliminated by the strong electric field arising from the line charge singularity. In a model setup of concentric circular electrodes, we show by stability analysis, numerical simulation, and experimental visualization that instability occurs at the inner anode, below a critical radius of curvature. The stability criterion is also formulated in terms of a critical electric field and extended to arbitrary (2d) geometries by conformal mapping. This discovery suggests that transport may be enhanced in processes limited by salt enrichment, such as reverse osmosis, by triggering this instability with needle-like electrodes.