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Title: Electric current-driven migration of electrically neutral particles in liquids

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4869465· OSTI ID:22257716
;  [1]
  1. Department of Materials, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom)

We design and experimentally demonstrate a migration of electrically neutral particles in liquids driven by electric current according to the discrepancies of their electrical conductivities. A force from electric current to electrically neutral particles has been identified to drive the particles toward the lateral surface from the centre of suspension via three distinguishable zones, namely, pushing, trapping, and expelling zones. The driving force can overtake gravity in practical cases. The property of the force is found neither similar to that of the force in electromagnetophoresis nor similar to that of the electromigration force in terms of direction and magnitude. An expression for the force at the pushing zone has been developed based on the numerical calculation of the thermodynamics of suspension fluids. The excellent agreement between numerical calculations and experimental data demonstrates that our calculation provides fundamental and predictive insight into particles separation from the liquids. Therefore, it is possible to use the force in many engineering applications such as separation of particles according to the differences of their electrical conductivities.

OSTI ID:
22257716
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 11; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English