Experimental investigation of the electrokinetic flow in microchannels with internal electrodes

We investigate the electrokinetic flow in microchannels with internal electrodes. Experiments and numerical simulations are performed. The micro–particle–image velocimetry method is used to measure two–dimesional, two–component velocity fields over the complete height of the microchannel. Based on this measurements, the third velocity component, which cannot be measured directly, is calculated by an integration of the continuity equation. Due to the fact that microparticles, used for the μPIV are electrically non-neutral leads to the problem that these particles experience electrophoretic forces. That means that the particle movement appears to be a superposition of electroosmotic and electrophorectic effects. To verify the influence of electrophoretic effects on the microparticles, additional numerical calculations are made. (© 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)