Diffusiophoresis in porous media saturated with a mixture of electrolytes

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sambamoorthy, Siddharth, Chu, Henry C. W.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866916501511995392
author Sambamoorthy, Siddharth
Chu, Henry C. W.
author_facet Sambamoorthy, Siddharth
Chu, Henry C. W.
contents Current theories of diffusiophoresis in porous media are limited to a porous medium saturated with a valence symmetric electrolyte. A predictive model for diffusiophoresis in porous media saturated with a valence asymmetric electrolyte, or a general mixture of valence symmetric and asymmetric electrolytes, is lacking. To close this knowledge gap, in this work we develop a mathematical model, based upon the regular perturbation method and numerical integration, to compute the diffusiophoretic mobility of a colloid in porous media saturated with a general mixture of electrolytes. We model the electrokinetics using the Poisson-Nernst-Planck equations and the fluid transport in porous media using the Brinkman equation with an electric body force. We report three novel key findings. First, we demonstrate that, in the same electrolyte concentration gradient, lowering the permeability of the porous medium can significantly weaken the colloid diffusiophoretic motion. Second, we show that, surprisingly, by using a valence asymmetric electrolyte the colloid diffusiophoretic motion in a denser porous medium can be stronger than that in a less dense porous medium saturated with a symmetric electrolyte. Third, we demonstrate that varying the composition of an electrolyte mixture does not only change the strength of the colloid diffusiophoretic motion drastically, but also qualitatively its direction. The model developed from this work can be used to understand and predict natural phenomena such as intracellular transport, as well as design technological applications such as enhanced oil recovery, nanoparticle drug delivery, and colloidal species separation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_00646
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Diffusiophoresis in porous media saturated with a mixture of electrolytes
Sambamoorthy, Siddharth
Chu, Henry C. W.
Soft Condensed Matter
Chemical Physics
Geophysics
Current theories of diffusiophoresis in porous media are limited to a porous medium saturated with a valence symmetric electrolyte. A predictive model for diffusiophoresis in porous media saturated with a valence asymmetric electrolyte, or a general mixture of valence symmetric and asymmetric electrolytes, is lacking. To close this knowledge gap, in this work we develop a mathematical model, based upon the regular perturbation method and numerical integration, to compute the diffusiophoretic mobility of a colloid in porous media saturated with a general mixture of electrolytes. We model the electrokinetics using the Poisson-Nernst-Planck equations and the fluid transport in porous media using the Brinkman equation with an electric body force. We report three novel key findings. First, we demonstrate that, in the same electrolyte concentration gradient, lowering the permeability of the porous medium can significantly weaken the colloid diffusiophoretic motion. Second, we show that, surprisingly, by using a valence asymmetric electrolyte the colloid diffusiophoretic motion in a denser porous medium can be stronger than that in a less dense porous medium saturated with a symmetric electrolyte. Third, we demonstrate that varying the composition of an electrolyte mixture does not only change the strength of the colloid diffusiophoretic motion drastically, but also qualitatively its direction. The model developed from this work can be used to understand and predict natural phenomena such as intracellular transport, as well as design technological applications such as enhanced oil recovery, nanoparticle drug delivery, and colloidal species separation.
title Diffusiophoresis in porous media saturated with a mixture of electrolytes
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Chemical Physics
Geophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.00646