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Updated: May 5, 2026

Generation and Control of Electrohydrodynamic Flows in Aqueous Electrolyte Solutions
Published on: September 7, 2018
Exploring new scaling regimes for streaming potential and electroviscous effects in a nanocapillary with overlapping
Siddhartha Das1, Arnab Guha, Sushanta K Mitra
1Micro and Nanoscale Transport Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2G8.
Abstract:
In this paper, we unravel new scaling regimes for streaming potential and electroviscous effects in a nanocapillary with thick overlapping Electric Double Layers (EDLs). We observe that the streaming potential, for a given value of the capillary zeta (ζ) potential, varies with the EDL thickness and a dimensionless parameter R, quantifying the conduction current. Depending on the value of R, variation of the streaming potential with the EDL thickness demonstrates distinct scaling regimes: one can witness a Quadratic Regime where the streaming potential varies as the square of the EDL thickness, a Weak Regime where the streaming potential shows a weaker variation with the EDL thickness, and a Saturation Regime where the streaming potential ceases to vary with the EDL thickness. Effective viscosity, characterizing the electroviscous effect, obeys the variation of the streaming potential for smaller EDL thickness values; however, for larger EDL thickness the electroosmotic flow profile dictates the electroviscous effect, with insignificant contribution of the streaming potential.
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