Modulation of Electrokinetic Potentials Using Graphene-Based Surfaces and Variable Substrate Charge Density

Abstract

Enhanced electrokinetic phenomena, manifested through the observation of a large streaming potential (V s), were obtained in microchannels with single-layer graphene (SLG)-coated and few-layer graphene (FLG)-coated surfaces. In comparison to silicon microchannels, the V s obtained for a given pressure difference along the channel (ΔP) was higher by 75% for the graphene-based channels, with larger values in the SLG case. Computational modeling was used to correlate the surface charge density, tuned through plasma processing, and related zeta potential to measured V s. The implications related to deploying lower dimensional material surfaces for modulating electrokinetic flows were investigated.