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A new droplet breakup phenomenon in electrokinetic flow through a microchannel constriction
Author(s) -
Ji Xiang,
Zhou Teng,
Deng Yongbo,
Shi Liuyong,
Zhang Xianman,
Woo Joo Sang
Publication year - 2020
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.201900140
Subject(s) - breakup , electrokinetic phenomena , microchannel , mechanics , constriction , microfluidics , materials science , flow (mathematics) , chemistry , nanotechnology , physics , medicine , endocrinology
A completely new droplet breakup phenomenon is reported for droplets passing through a constriction in an electrokinetic flow. The breakup occurs during the droplet shape recovery process past the constriction throat by the interplay of the dielectrophoretic stress release and the interface energy for droplets with smaller permittivity than that of the ambient fluid. There are conditions for constriction ratios and droplet size that the droplet breakup occurs. The numerical predictions provided here require experimental verification, and then can give rise to a novel microfluidic device design with novel droplet manipulations.