Self-generated electrokinetic flows from active-charged boundary patterns

TL;DR

This paper presents a hydrodynamic model explaining how patterned active and charged boundaries in microfluidic systems can generate self-sustained electrolyte flows without external fields, relevant for biological and soft matter applications.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework for boundary-driven electrolyte flows resulting from combined charge and flux patterns, including phase differences and diffusivity effects.

Findings

Flow states depend on phase difference between charge and flux patterns.

Mismatch in ion diffusivities influences flow behavior.

Microfluidic generator using enzyme-coated patches can produce self-sustained flows.

Abstract

We develop a hydrodynamic description of self-generated electrolyte flow in capillaries whose bounding walls feature both non-uniform distributions of charge and non-uniform active ionic fluxes. The hydrodynamic velocity arising in such a system has components that are forbidden by symmetry in the absence of charge and fluxes. However, when these two boundary mechanisms are simultaneously present, they can lead to a symmetry broken state where steady flows with both unidirectional and circulatory components emerge. We show that these flow states arise when modulated boundary patterns of charge and fluxes are offset by a flux-charge phase difference, which is associated with the separation between sites of their peak densities on the wall. Mismatch in diffusivity of cationic and anionic species can modify the flow states and becomes an enhancing factor when fluxes of both ion species are being produced together at the same site. We demonstrate that this mechanism can be realized with a microfluidic generator which is powered by enzyme-coated patches that catalyzes reactants in the solution to produce fluxes of ions. The local ionic elevation or depletion that disrupts a non-uniform double layer, promotes self-induced gradients yielding persistent body forces to generate bulk fluid motion. Our work quantifies a boundary-driven mechanism behind self-sustained electrolyte flow in confined environments that exists without any external bulk-imposed fields or gradients. It provides a theoretical framework for understanding the combined effect of active and charged boundaries that are relevant in biological or soft matter systems, and can be utilized in electrofluidic and iontronic applications.