Analysis of induced-charge electro-osmotic flow in a microchannel embedded with polarizable dielectric blocks

Within the frame work of classic electromagnetic theory, a general electrical boundary condition describing the induced-charge electrokinetic phenomena at the liquid-dielectric interface is proposed in the present study. Two well-known limiting cases, i.e., perfectly insulating and perfectly polarizable wall boundary conditions, can be recovered from the present electrical boundary condition. By utilizing the proposed boundary condition, the induced-charge electro-osmosis (ICEO) flow in an infinitely long microchannel patterned with two symmetric polarizable dielectric blocks is investigated analytically. Fourier transform method is invoked to solve a biharmonic equation, which governs the (ICEO) flow field described by the stream function. Dimensionless parameters are introduced, and their effects on flow characteristics are analyzed. It is found that an increase in polarizability of the dielectric block enhances the slip velocity on its surface and thus induces a pair of counter-rotating vortices. Also, increasing the natural zeta potential on the upstream and downstream of the insulating microchannel walls leads to extinction of the vortex near the upstream insulating microchannel and suppression of the vortex near the downstream insulating microchannel.