title: Characterization of electroosmotic flow through nanoporous self-assembled arrays.
abstract: Characterization of EOF mobility for Tris and TBE buffer solutions is performed in nanoporous arrays using the fluorescent marker method to examine the magnitude of EOFs through nanopores with mean diameters close to electric double layer thickness (Debye length). Structures made from solid silica nanospheres with effective pore sizes from 104 nm down to 8 nm are produced within the microchannel using an evaporation self-assembly method. EOF results in nanoporous matrices show higher EOF mobilities for stronger electrolyte solutions, which are drastically different compared to microchannel EOF. The effects of scaling are also examined by comparing the EOF mobility for varying ratios of pore diameters to the Debye length, which shows a surprising consistency across all particle sizes examined. This work demonstrates various factors which must be considered when designing nanofluidic devices, and discusses the causes of these small scale effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Kevan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Mikel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gomes
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Neda
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nazemifard
mesh_terms: D053841:Electroosmosis / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D008956:Models, Chemical; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D058608:Nanopores; D010316:Particle Size; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D012822:Silicon Dioxide
keywords: Electroosmosis; Microfluidics; Nanopores; Transport phenomena