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A Y-channel design for improving zeta potential and surface conductivity measurements using the current monitoring method

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Abstract

This study presents a new Y-channel design for measuring the zeta potential and surface conductance of a solid-liquid pairing using the current monitoring technique. The new design improves the throughput and reliability of the testing apparatus since the displacement between two solutions can be repeated many times without interfering with the experiments. It also increases the accuracy of the measurement by producing sharper start and end transitions for the current–time plot of the solution displacement process. In this design, efforts have been made to minimize the effects of electrolysis, Joule heating and undesired pressure driven flow on the measurements. An improvement on the current–time slope analysis is also presented. The Y-channel design was validated by comparing zeta potential measurements to published results. The zeta potential of several biological buffers relevant to the microfluidic community in plasma treated PDMS/PDMS and PDMS/Glass microchannels are presented. Preliminary studies of surface conductivity measurements using the Y-channel design were also conducted and are briefly discussed.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of research grants of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada to C. L. Ren and D. A. Johnson, the Department of Mechanical Engineering at King Saud University for sponsoring Zeyad Almutairi and Ontario Graduate Scholarship and Canada Graduate Scholarship to Tomasz Glawdel. Zeyad Almutairi and Tomasz Glawdel made equally contributions to this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Zeyad A. Almutairi, Tomasz Glawdel, Carolyn L. Ren & David A. Johnson

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  1. Zeyad A. Almutairi
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  2. Tomasz Glawdel
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  3. Carolyn L. Ren
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  4. David A. Johnson
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Correspondence to Carolyn L. Ren.

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Almutairi, Z.A., Glawdel, T., Ren, C.L. et al. A Y-channel design for improving zeta potential and surface conductivity measurements using the current monitoring method. Microfluid Nanofluid 6, 241–251 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-008-0320-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-008-0320-6

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