title: Streaming potential revisited: the influence of convection on the surface conductivity.
abstract: Electrokinetic phenomena play an important role in the electrical characterization of surfaces. In terms of planar or porous substrates, streaming potential and/or streaming current measurements can be used to determine the zeta potential of the substrates in contact with aqueous electrolytes. In this work, we perform electrical impedance spectroscopy measurements to infer the electrical resistance in a microchannel with the same conditions as for a streaming potential experiment. Novel correlations are derived to relate the streaming current and streaming potential to the Reynolds number of the channel flow. Our results not only quantify the influence of surface conductivity, and here especially the contribution of the stagnant layer, but also reveal that channel resistance and therefore zeta potential are influenced by the flow in the case of low ionic strengths. We conclude that convection can have a significant impact on the electrical double layer configuration which is reflected by changes in the surfaces conductivity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Queen's University , Dupuis Hall 213, Kingston Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada.
authors.forename: Rakesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Saini
authors.forename: Abhinandan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Garg
authors.forename: Dominik P J
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Barz