Mixing in a Microchannel by using Induced-charge Electro-osmosis

Abstract

Abstract. This paper presents an experimental study on the performance of a micro-mixer using AC electro-osmotic flow. The microchannel is made of PDMS for the side and top walls and glass patterned with ITO for the bottom wall. We first investigated the effect of the applied potential as well as the frequency on the slip velocity. We have found that the slip velocity is roughly proportional to the applied voltage in line with the Helmholtz-Smoluchowski equation and there is an optimum frequency at which the slip velocity becomes maximized. To find the optimum parameters for mixing device we tested our device for various design parameters. It turned out that the best mixing effect is obtained approximately when the electrode angle is 30 o , electrode width 200 µm, and the frequency of power supply 700 Hz.