Journal
SOFT MATTER
Volume 13, Issue 7, Pages 1505-1518Publisher
ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/c6sm02240e
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Funding
- Marie Sklodowska-Curie Intra European Fellowship [654916]
- DFG [SPP 1726]
- Microswimmers-From Single Particle Motion to Collective Behavior [HO1108/24-1, Pa459/18-1]
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/R012415/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- BBSRC [BB/R012415/1] Funding Source: UKRI
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An ion-exchange-resin-based microfluidic pump is introduced that utilizes trace amounts of ions to generate fluid flows. We show experimentally that our pump operates in almost deionized water for periods exceeding 24 h and induces fluid flows of mm s(-1) over hundreds of mm. This flow displays a far-field, power-law decay which is characteristic of two-dimensional (2D) flow when the system is strongly confined and of three-dimensional (3D) flow when it is not. Using theory and numerical calculations we demonstrate that our observations are consistent with electroosmotic pumping driven by mu mol L-1 ion concentrations in the sample cell that serve as 'fuel' to the pump. Our study thus reveals that trace amounts of charge carriers can produce surprisingly strong fluid flows; an insight that should benefit the design of a new class of microfluidic pumps that operate at very low fuel concentrations.
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