(6c) Probing the Basset Force Acting On a Particle Undergoing AC Electrophoresis | AIChE

(6c) Probing the Basset Force Acting On a Particle Undergoing AC Electrophoresis

Authors 

Wirth, C. L. - Presenter, Carnegie Mellon University
Sides, P. J. - Presenter, Carnegie Mellon University
Prieve, D. C. - Presenter, Carnegie Mellon University


The electrophoretic motion and related assembly of colloidal particles near an electrode is important to a variety of applications including the preparation of colloidal crystals,1 the separation of colloids,2,3 and the high throughput evaluation of electrocatalysts4,5. With the aid of Total Internal Reflection Microscopy (TIRM), we studied high frequency (1 kHz - 100 kHz) AC electrophoresis of a single particle normal to an electrode. Surprisingly, the particle adopted a position either closer to- or farther from the nearby wall even when the driving force was oscillatory. The position dependence in the hydrodynamic mobility of the particle suffices to explain apparent repulsion from the electrode, but attraction toward the electrode had remained a mystery for a number of years.6 Recently, these experiments and new modeling suggested that the Basset force plays a role in this unexpected behavior. The Basset (or “history”) force, results from the transient development of the particle’s momentum boundary layer during unsteady particle motion. TIRM’s capability of probing weak, ~kT scale interaction energies is ideal for investigation of this hydrodynamic effect.  The evidence showing the significance of including the Basset force is the subject of this presentation.

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5.      Wirth, C. L.; Sides, P. J.; Prieve, D. C., The imaging ammeter. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science (2011) 357 (1).

6.      Fagan, J. A.; Sides, P. J.; Prieve, D. C., Evidence of multiple electrohydrodynamic forces acting on a colloidal particle near an electrode due to an alternating current electric field. Langmuir (2005) 21 (5).