Numerical analysis of the effect of zeta potential on the performance of micro-electrohydrodynamic conduction pump

As an advanced flow-drive technology, micro-electrohydrodynamic (EHD) conduction pumping has become a new prospect in many micro-scale industrial applications, including lab-on-chip devices and microfluidic cooling systems. Under micro-scale conditions, the effect of the electric double layer (EDL) has to be considered. Zeta potential is an adjustable and measurable experimental value and has been proposed to estimate the strength of EDL in simulations. In this work, the effect of zeta potential on the performance of micro-EHD conduction pumping has been numerically investigated. A method to estimate the surface charge density without the Debye–Hückel approximation was introduced. A two-dimensional flush electrode configuration with a typical size of 50 μm was considered. The coupled series of governing equations was implemented in the finite-volume framework of OpenFOAM® and solved based on the PIMPLE algorithm. The results show that zeta potential can enhance the asymmetry of the electric field and change the distribution of the Coulomb force. For the construction considered in this work, negative zeta potential can reduce the size and strength of the vortex in the flow field and improve the pump's net flow rate and static pressure. In contrast, positive zeta potential has the opposite effect. Maximum performance enhancement up to 94.8%–115.1% has been observed for different electrode length ratios within the parameters studied in this paper. The results guide the zeta potential optimization of micro-EHD conduction pumping. By matching the pairs of solid and liquid materials, researchers can adjust zeta potential to an optimal value, thereby improving the pump performance.