A microscale turbine driven by diffusive mass flux.
An external diffusive mass flux is shown to be able to generate a mechanical torque on a microscale object based on anisotropic diffusiophoresis. In light of this finding, we propose a theoretical prototype micro-turbine driven purely by diffusive mass flux, which is in strong contrast to conventional turbines driven by convective mass flows. The rotational velocity of the proposed turbine is determined by the external concentration gradient, the geometry and the diffusiophoretic properties of the turbine. This scenario is validated by performing computer simulations. Our finding thus provides a new type of chemo-mechanical response which could be used to exploit existing chemical energies at small scales.
Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China. mcyang@iphy.ac.cn kechen@iphy.ac.cn.
Mingcheng
M
Yang
Rui
R
Liu
Marisol
M
Ripoll
Ke
K
Chen
D003198:Computer Simulation; D004058:Diffusion; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D008970:Molecular Weight