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Numerical and experimental investigation of ‘water fan’ effect due to electrohydrodynamic force in a microchamber
Author(s) -
Jiang Hai,
Yang Xu,
Fan Na,
Peng Bei,
Weng Xuan
Publication year - 2019
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.201800269
Subject(s) - electrohydrodynamics , microfluidics , rotation (mathematics) , microelectrode , mechanics , materials science , voltage , nanotechnology , fluid dynamics , flow (mathematics) , mixing (physics) , chemistry , physics , electrical engineering , computer science , electrode , engineering , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence
Electrohydrodynamics is commonly used in microfluidics to control and manipulate the fluid. Though there are studies on the rotation flow in suspended films, the thin film liquid is easily broken and cannot last long hence not applicable in specific applications. Here, we established a three‐dimensional microchamber embedded with two pairs of microelectrodes to investigate the rotational phenomenon of bulk of liquid which we called ‘water fan’ effect based on the electrohydrodynamics force. When proper voltages were applied on these microelectrodes, the tornado‐like rotation would be generated. Both the numerical and experimental results showed that the controllable and continuous rotation could be achieved in the microchamber. In addition, the concentration effect resulting from the rotation flow was also observed. The proposed method offers great promises in providing theoretical and practical guideline in microfluidic devices for mixing, separating, and cooling applications.