Electroosmosis as a probe for electrostatic correlations

TL;DR

This paper investigates how ionic correlations influence electroosmotic flow in planar channels without salt, proposing an analytical theory validated by simulations, revealing that correlations can enhance flow beyond mean-field predictions.

Contribution

It introduces a new analytical framework for understanding electroosmotic flow considering ionic correlations, validated by simulations, and highlights the potential of electroosmotic measurements to assess electrostatic correlations.

Findings

Correlated systems can exhibit larger electroosmotic flow than mean-field predictions.

The proposed theory aligns well with dissipative particle dynamics simulations.

Electroosmotic properties can serve as probes for electrostatic correlations.

Abstract

We study the role of ionic correlations on the electroosmotic flow in planar double-slit channels, without salt. We propose an analytical theory, based on recent advances in the understanding of correlated systems. We compare the theory with mean-field results and validate it by means of dissipative particle dynamics simulations. Interestingly, for some surface separations, correlated systems exhibit a larger flow than predicted by mean-field. We conclude that the electroosmotic properties of a charged system can be used, in general, to infer and weight the importance of electrostatic correlations therein.