Wall adsorption of a colloidal particle moving in a quiescent partially wetting fluid

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the movement of a colloidal particle in a partially wetting fluid near walls influences its adsorption, balancing equilibrium attraction and hydrodynamic lift forces to understand control mechanisms in microflows.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical analysis of the interplay between wall attraction and hydrodynamic lift forces affecting colloidal particles in microfluidic environments.

Findings

Hydrodynamic lift force increases with particle velocity.

Velocity can control particle adsorption near walls.

Identifies velocity range for effective control of particle-wall interactions.

Abstract

In thermal equilibrium, a colloidal particle between two parallel plates immersed in a fluid which partially wets both the particle and the plates, is attracted by the walls. However, if the particle moves parallel to the plates, a hydrodynamic lift force away from the plates arises in the limit of low Reynolds number. We study theoretically the competition of these two effects and identify the range of velocity in which the velocity may serve as a parameter controlling the adsorption in microflows.