Effect of an External Electric Field on the Performance of an Electroosmotically-Driven Micromixer with Triangular-Shaped Electrodes: Design and Simulation

Abstract

An electroosmosis micromixer is an essential element within microfluidic systems, designed to effectively facilitate the mixing of fluids at the microscale. These devices are essential across various scientific disciplines, such as chemistry, biology, and medicine, due to their ability to manipulate minute volumes with extraordinary precision and minimal reagent loss. Electroosmosis can be defined as the movement of fluids through micro/nano-channels, driven by an externally applied electric field. In the current investigation, a micromixer that is driven by electroosmosis phenomena, has been developed to combine two disparate fluids, which are introduced into the system through separate inlets, resulting in a combined microchannel. To improve this mixing system, a sinusoidal electric potential is systematically applied across the triangular-shaped electrodes, characterized by a peak value of 0.1 V and an operational frequency of 8 Hz. The simulation results obtained from this configuration indicate that the micromixer demonstrates an exceptional mixing efficiency approaching a value of 0.96, thereby highlighting its considerable potential for beneficial applications across a diverse array of fields, particularly within microfluidics, biochemistry, and biomedical sciences.