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Ionic size dependent electroosmosis in ion‐selective microchannels and nanochannels
Author(s) -
Bandopadhyay Aditya,
Chakraborty Suman
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
electrophoresis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.666
H-Index - 158
eISSN - 1522-2683
pISSN - 0173-0835
DOI - 10.1002/elps.201300094
Subject(s) - electrokinetic phenomena , counterion , chemical physics , ionic bonding , ionic strength , ion , nanofluidics , microfluidics , nanotechnology , nanopore , chemistry , steric effects , materials science , organic chemistry , aqueous solution , stereochemistry
Electrokinetics in salt‐free media (in which counterions are only present) is central to the performance of many systems of modern technological relevance, ranging from ion‐selective nanopores to electronic papers. Here, we introduce an analytical theory to describe the size dependence of electroosmosis in such typical scenarios, exhibiting an interesting confluence of the implications of interdependence of the electroosmotic transport mechanisms, ionic sizes, and confinement dimensions along with the counterion concentration. Our results do reveal that the concerned mobility parameter, describing the strength of electroosmotic transport, increases simultaneously with increments in the surface charge density as well as an ionic size factor (also known as the steric factor), bearing far‐ranging consequences in microfluidic and nanofluidic technology.