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Electrokinetic transport in silica nanochannels with asymmetric surface charge

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Abstract

The characteristic high surface area to volume ratio causes ionic transport in nanofluidic devices to be governed by surface properties like surface charge. In recent years, experimental demonstrations have shown gate electrodes embedded in the nanochannel wall to systematically alter the surface potential to manipulate ionic transport in nanochannels. Using state-of-the-art non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations, electrokinetic transport of an aqueous KCl solution confined in a ~7 nm deep silica nanochannel is reported under the influence of asymmetric surface charge to investigate the effect of engineered surface charge on the resulting velocity and ion number density profiles within these nanochannels. Significant changes in the velocity magnitude and profile were observed in the silica nanochannels with two charged surface patches compared to a homogenously charged silica channel. The surface charged patches cause regions of local flow reversal which were indicated by an observed negative velocity. The simulations provide a theoretical foundation to systematically manipulate electrokinetic flow inside nanochannels by using engineered surface charge at the nanochannel walls.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge partial financial support from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) through the US Army Research Office (ARO) Grant W911NF09C0079, the US Army Research Office (ARO) for Grant W911NF1010290, and NSF CBET-1335946. M. Fuest would like to thank the NSF graduate fellowship program for support. The authors wish to acknowledge discussions with Jim Giuliani and Kaushik K. Rangharajan in the Mechanical Engineering Department at OSU. We thank the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) for computational support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University, 201 W. 19th Ave, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Shaurya Prakash, Marie Fuest, Caitlin Boone, Emily Rosenthal-Kim & A. T. Conlisk

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Universidad de Concepcion, Chile, Concepcion, Chile

    Harvey A. Zambrano & Nicolas Vasquez

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  1. Shaurya Prakash
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  2. Harvey A. Zambrano
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Correspondence to Shaurya Prakash or A. T. Conlisk.

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Prakash, S., Zambrano, H.A., Fuest, M. et al. Electrokinetic transport in silica nanochannels with asymmetric surface charge. Microfluid Nanofluid 19, 1455–1464 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-015-1659-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-015-1659-0

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