Computational Micro/Nanofluidics: Unifier of Physical and Natural Sciences and Engineering

Synonyms

Microscale fluid mechanics; Nanoscale fluid mechanics

Definition

Because of the small scale of the fluid conduits, electric fields must often be used to transport fluids especially at the nanoscale. This means that the fluids must be electrically conducting, and so microfluidics and nanofluidics require the user to be knowledgeable in fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer, electrostatics, electrokinetics, electrochemistry, and, if biomolecules are involved, molecular biology.

Introduction

The term microfluidics refers generally to internal flow in a tube or channel whose smallest dimension is under 100 μm. Nanofluidics refers to the same phenomenon in a conduit whose smallest dimension is less than 100 nm.

Microchannels and nanochannels have large surface-to-volume ratio, so that surface properties become enormously important. In fully developed channel flow, the pressure drop $\varDelta p\sim \frac{1}{h^3}$, where his the small dimension, and so the pressure drop is...