Modeling electroosmotic and pressure-driven flows in porous microfluidic devices: Zeta potential and porosity changes near the channel walls

Abstract

This work presents analytical solutions for both pressure-driven and electroosmotic flows in microchannels incorporating porous media. Solutions are based on a volume-averaged flow model using a scaling of the Navier-Stokes equations for fluid flow. The general model allows analysis of fluid flow in channels with porous regions bordering open regions and includes viscous forces, permitting consideration of porosity and zeta potential variations near channel walls. To obtain analytical solutions problems are constrained to the linearized Poisson-Boltzmann equation and a variation of Brinkman's equation [Appl. Sci. Res., Sect. A 1, 27 (1947); 1, 81 (1947)]. Cases include one continuous porous medium, two adjacent regions of different porosities, or one open channel adjacent to a porous region, and the porous material may have a different zeta potential than that of the channel walls. Solutions are described for two geometries, including flow between two parallel plates or in a cylinder. The model illustrates the relative importance of porosity and zeta potential in different regions of each channel.