Analytical investigation of electrokinetic effects of micropolar fluids in nanofluidic channels

The effects of microstructure of fluid particles on the electrokinetic phenomena are investigated analytically based on a micropolar fluid model, where micro-rotation of fluid particles and material parameters like viscosity and angular viscosity coefficients are involved. Meanwhile, the influences of velocity slip at the surface of a nanofluidic channel and overlapped electrical double layers (EDLs) are incorporated. Results indicate that the introduction of micropolarity will significantly affect the electrokinetic effects, especially in the case of overlapped EDLs. Qualitatively, it leads to evident reductions in the flow rate, streaming current, and streaming potential relative to Newtonian fluids. The velocity slip is an opposing and competitive mechanism which tends to increase the flow rate, streaming current, and potential. Furthermore, the interplay between the micropolarity and slip effects is studied in detail. The influence of micropolarity on the electrokinetic energy conversion (EKEC) efficiency depends on the ionic Peclet number R. For small values of R (e.g., R = 0.1), the EKEC efficiency for micropolar fluids may exceed that for Newtonian fluids in some range of parameter K in the case of overlapped EDLs for nanochannels. However, for R ≥ 0.2, the EKEC efficiency for micropolar fluids is always less than that for Newtonian fluids.