Design and numerical simulation of a novel microfluidic electroosmotic micromixer with three electrode pairs

BACKGROUND Miniaturization of experimental instruments in the field of biochemistry and medicine has become more and more common. A major trend in microfluidic technology is the miniaturization of experimental instruments. The relatively simple design and fabrication of active micromixers has attracted more and more attention. RESULTS In this paper, we design and simulate a novel electroosmotic micromixer that uses microelectrodes located in microchannel walls. The study first compares the mixing effect of the micromixer without and with electrodes, and then investigates the effects of the number of electrode pairs, the value of the alternating voltage and the AC frequency on the mixing performance. CONCLUSION When the electroosmotic micromixer has three electrode pairs at alternating voltage of 10 V and alternating frequency of 16 Hz, the best mixing efficiency can reach 98.2%. We call this micromixer TEEM (three electrode electroosmotic micromixer). At the same flow velocity, the mixing efficiency of TEEM is 30% higher than the electrodeless micromixer. This paper provides an effective theoretical support for the design of active electroosmotic micromixers, and provides a potential application value for further research and manufacture of electroosmotic micromixers used in biomedicine. (c) 2019 Society of Chemical Industry