Electroosmotic flow in heterogeneous microchannels

The characteristics of electroosmotic flow in a cylindrical microchannel wi th nonuniform zeta potential were investigated in this paper. The Poisson-B oltzmann equation and momentum equation were used to model the electrical d ouble-layer field and the flow field. The numerical results show the distor ted electroosmotic ve city profiles resulting from the axial variation of t he zeta potential. Also, the influences of the unequal section size and the direction of the zeta potential change on the velocity profile, the induce d pressure distribution, and the volumetric flow rate are discussed in this paper. The simulation results revealed possible effects of bioadhesion in microchannels on the electroosmotic flow in biochip devices. (C) 2001 Acade mic Press.