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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Generation and Control of Electrohydrodynamic Flows in Aqueous Electrolyte Solutions
Published on: September 7, 2018
Effects of Stern layer conductance on electrokinetic energy conversion in nanofluidic channels
Christian Davidson1, Xiangchun Xuan
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-0921, USA.
Abstract:
A thermo-electro-hydro-dynamic model is developed to analytically account for the effects of Stern layer conductance on electrokinetic energy conversion in nanofluidic channels. The optimum electrokinetic devices performance is dependent on a figure of merit, in which the Stern layer conductance appears as a nondimensional Dukhin number. Such surface conductance is found to significantly reduce the figure of merit and thus the efficiency and power output. This finding may explain why the recently measured electrokinetic devices performances are far below the theoretical predictions where the effects of Stern layer conductance have been ignored.
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