Technical Sessions—Proceedings of CIST2008 & ITS-IFToMM2008 Beijing, China

Effect of Wall Roughness on Electroosmotic Flow in Microchannels

Y. Liu*, D. Yang

School of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Nanchang University, Jiangxi, 330031, China

ABSTRACT z 0 e4
Electroosmotic flow (EOF) is widely used to transport and
3 e  2 z0 en sinh( ) (2)
k BT
mix fluids in lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices. For the
/u
parallel-plate microchannel with surface roughness, this paper 3f (  u  .u )  .P  . 2u  3 e E (3)
solved the governing equations using the finite element /t
method (FEM) and the effects of roughness element height and .u  0 (4)
density on the EOF behavior were thus investigated. The where is the electrical potential induced by the zeta potential
simulation results indicate that the strong flow resistance can in the EDL, r is the dielectric constant of the solution, 0 is the
enhance the pressure reduction and decrease the velocity in permittivity of vacuum, and e is the net charge density per
microchannels. The average EOF velocity varies linearly with unit volume in Eq. (1), which meet the Eq. (2) with the . In
the EDL thickness in smooth channels, which does not vary Eq. (2), n and z0 are the bulk ionic concentration and the
with the roughness height or interval space or EDL thickness valence of ion in the symmetric electrolyte solution,
monotonically in homogeneous rough channels. The EOF respectively, e is the charge of a proton, kB is the Boltzmann
velocity decreases quickly when the roughness height is very constant and T is the temperature.
small and slowly after that, and it is influenced most In Eqs. (3)-(4), u is the velocity vector,  is the viscosity, f
significantly when the roughness interval space is the same as is the density of the fluid, e is the local net charge density, E is
the roughness height. the electrical field strength and P is the pressure applied to the
Keywords: microchannel, surface roughness, EOF, FEM microchannels.
The object studied in this paper is the parallel-plate
1. INTRODUCTION microchinnels with different rectangles symmetrically on the
Lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices are frequently required to channel wall, shown in Fig.1. The channel is L in length and D
have an accurate flow control. Fluid motion in these devices is in width and the surface roughness is w in width and h in
often achieved using electroosmotic flow (EOF)[1], which height. The channel is periodic in x direction with both wall
shows several advantages over pressure driven flow. EOF is charged with a uniform zeta potential. The surface roughness
the bulk liquid motion that results when an externally applied is uniformly arranged in the channel with an interval space wr
electric field interacts with the net surplus of charged ions in and the three surfaces of each roughness are charged at a
the diffuse part of an electrical double layer (EDL)[2]. EOF and uniform zeta potential. Then the equations above could be
mass transport in microchannels is strongly dependent on simplified into two-dimensional mathematic models.
surface roughness[3]. Generally, the microchannel surface may
exhibit certain degrees of roughness generated by the
manufacturing techniques or by adhesion of biological
particles from the liquids[4]. The reported surface roughness
ranges from 0.1 to 2 m, which could be ignored in the
conventional instrument, however it may have an important
effect on the flow in microchannels[5].
Several studies are made in recent past on the EOF in
rough mcirochannel based on the finite volume method
(FVM)[6] and the Lattice Poisson-Boltzmann method (LPBM)[7].
The inertial effect and the flow recirculation can enhance the Fig. 1 Schematic of the microchannels with periodic surface
mixing substantially through the convection effect[8]. roughness
The objective of this paper is to investigate the flow
resistance effect on a fully developed EOF within a long rough Substituting Eq. (2) into the Poisson equation (1) leads to the
microchannel whose height is 10m. To achieve the objects, nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann equation with the coordinates
the Poisson-Boltzmann equation for electrical potential shown in Fig.1.
distributions and the Navier-Stokes equations for flows will be / 24 2 z 0 en z e4
developed and solved by using the finite element method  sinh( 0 ) (5)
(FEM). /y 2
r 0 k BT
Fully developed flows and the zero pressure gradients are
2. MATHEMATIC MODELS assumed in the microchannels, in addition, for sufficiently
Electroosmotic transport can be described by the Poisson small Reynolds number (for the channel sizes considered in
equation and the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. The this work Re~0.1 or smaller), the Eq. (3) as described above
model includes[9]: could be simplified into
3e / 2u
. 24   (1) 0  3e ( y ) Ex (6)
r 0 /y 2
Defining Debye-Hückel parameter 5 =-1= (2 z2 e2 n / r o kB
*Corresponding Author: Y. Liu, E-mail: [email protected] T)1/2, and  is characteristic of the EDL thickness, which is

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 Effect of Wall Roughness on Electroosmotic Flow in Microchannels

named as Debye length depending on the value of ionic 3.1. EOF IN SMOOTH MICROCHANNELS
concentration and the temperature. EOF in smooth microchannels is simulated and the effects
Introducing the following dimensionless parameters: of EDL is analyzed firstly when the height of the surface
ze4 , u y x roughness h=0. Based on the above parameters, the EDL
4  K  5D , u  , y  , x  , thickness could be computed from the formula of Debye
k BT U D D Re 0 length, which varies from 100nm to 300nm while the ionic
3 f DU 2 zen 6 , D Re 0
concentration n=10-6~10-4mol/L.
Re 0  , G  Ex  Ex Figure 2 shows the dimensionless EOF velocity in the bulk
 3 fU 2
6 flow region of the channels and the dimensionless EOF
where 4 is the dimensionless potential, K is the average velocity in the whole channels, and the horizontal
coordinate is the dimensionless EDL thickness /D. The
electrokinetic diameter, U is the reference velocity, Re0 is the
average velocity deceases linearly with the increase of the
reference Reynolds number.
Then the mathematic models (5) and (6) can be EDL thickness, and the HS velocity keeps invariable, which
non-dimensionalized by using the previously defined agree well with the Smoluchowski equation[10]. The average
parameters: velocity decreases to the 92.8% of the HS velocity when the
dimensionless EDL thickness /D=0.0426.
/ 24
 K 2 sinh4 (7)
/y 2

/ 2u
 G E x sinh(4 ) (8)
/y 2
The corresponding dimensionless boundary conditions follow:
/4 1
y  0,  0 , y  ) ,4  6 (9)
/y 2
/u 1
y  0,  0 , y  ) ,u  0 (10)
/y 2
where 6 is the dimensionless zeta potential on the channel
ze6
wall, which is defined as 6  .
k BT

Fig. 2 EOF velocity vs. EDL thickness in smooth

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
microchannels
To simulate the EOF in 2D microchannels, we applied a
2D-computation code COMSOL Multiphysics 3.3 (COMSOL 3.2. EFFECTS OF ROUGHNESS HEIGHT
Inc.) based on the finite element method. The nonlinear Aiming to the different EDL thickness, effects of surface
Poisson-Boltzmann equation for a stable electrical potential roughness height on EOF in rough microchannels were
distribution was solved numerically firstly, and then the
simulated and analyzed in this sub-section. Fig. 3 shows EOF
incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, which can save
velocity changing with the roughness height at different EDL
plenty of computation resources when the variables in
multiphysics problem are not coupled intensively. The thickness when the roughness width and interval are
non-uniform grid was used to discretize the domain in the w=wr=1m, the vertical coordinate is the dimensionless EOF
microchannels in view of the large difference in dimension velocity in the bulk flow region of rough channels in Fig. 3(a),
between the EDL thickness and channel width, i.e., the which is the average one in the whole channels in Fig. 3(b),
extremely small grid was used in the near-wall region, and the the horizontal coordinate is the dimensionless roughness
coarser comparatively was used in the bulk flow region. And height h/D. The results indicate that EOF velocity decreases
every case was examined before the analysis of the EOF to with the roughness height, but it is the nonlinear change. The
insure the convergence of the result. velocity decreases quickly when the roughness height is very
Consider the microchannels with a width D=10m, a small (h/D < 0.05), and it decreases slowly after that until it
length L = 10D, the relative roughness height k=0~0.1 leading does not change for the velocity in the bulk flow region, but
to a h=0~1m, roughness width w=1m, and the relative the average one decreases at all times with the increasing of
roughness interval space l=0~5 leading to a wr=0~5m. roughness height, which means that the resistance force
Applied electrical field strength along the x direction increases at this time.
Ex=200V/cm, the ionic concentration n=10-6~10-4mol/L, and
the other parameters including: the dynamic viscosity
3.3. EFFECTS OF ROUGHNESS INTERVAL SPACE
=0.9×10-3Nsm-2, density f=1.0×103 kgm-3, the dielectric
Figure 4 shows EOF velocity influenced by the roughness
constant of the solution r=80, the permittivity of vacuum
interval space at different EDL thickness when the roughness
0=8.854×10-12C2J-1m-1, the Boltzmann constant
kB=1.38×10-23JK-1, the charge of a proton e=1.6×10-19C, the height h=0.2m and width w=1m, the vertical coordinate is
temperature T=298K, zeta potential on the channel wall the dimensionless EOF velocity in the bulk flow region of
=0.1V and the reference velocity U=1mm/s. rough channels in Fig. 4(a), which is the average one in the

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 Technical Sessions—Proceedings of CIST2008 & ITS-IFToMM2008 Beijing, China

whole channels in Fig. 4(b), the horizontal coordinate is the

dimensionless roughness interval space wr /w. When the
roughness interval space wr is smaller than the roughness
width w, EOF velocity decrease with the interval space, and
the microchannel returns to the smooth channel while wr=0.
When the roughness interval is larger than the roughness width,
a larger interval space leads to a larger EOF velocity. The
results indicate that EOF velocity is influenced most
significantly when the roughness interval space is same as the
roughness height. It can also be calculated that even for very
sparse roughness cases, such as wr = 5w, EOF velocity in the
bulk flow region is lower than 95% and the average one is
lower than 93% that of a smooth channel when the EDL
thickness is =100nm, which shows that the roughness effect
is not negligible in analysis of EOF in microfluidics.

(a)

(a)

(b)
Fig. 4 EOF velocity vs. the dimensionless roughness interval
space wr/w (a) Dimensionless velocity and wr/w, (b)
Dimensionless average velocity and wr/w

4. CONCLUSIONS
The nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann equation and the
Navier-Stokes equations for EOF in smooth and rough
microchannels were solved by using FEM based on the
non-uniform grid. The effects of surface roughness on EOF
were analyzed with the homogeneously charged rough
channels.
The average velocity varies linearly with the thin EDL
thickness for the EOF in smooth channels, but it does not vary
with the roughness height or interval space or EDL thickness
monotonically in homogeneously charged rough channels. The
EOF velocity decreases quickly when the roughness height is
(b)
very small (h/D < 0.05) and slowly after that, and it is
Fig. 3 EOF velocity vs. the dimensionless surface roughness
influenced most significantly when the roughness interval
h/D (a) Dimensionless velocity and h/D, (b) Dimensionless
space is same as the roughness height. The changing rate of
average velocity and h/D
the EOF velocity with the roughness height and interval is
different for the different EDL thickness. The results can
In addition, the changing rate of the EOF velocity with the
provide valuable understanding of EOF characteristics to
roughness height and interval is different for the different EDL
achieve accurate flow control in microfluidics.
thickness in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, which shows that the velocity
can be affected not only by the surface roughness but also by
the EDL thickness. The effects of EDL and roughness on EOF ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
simultaneously need to be studied more intensively in the The present work is supported by the National Natural
future[11]. Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50730007).

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 Effect of Wall Roughness on Electroosmotic Flow in Microchannels

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