Nanofluids
Interface microfluidic and nanofluidic devices provides many advantages. However, application of an electric field across a nanofluidic device creates regions of enriched and depleted (net neutral) ion concentration, an effect called concentration polarization that can change the conductivity and electric field in adjoining microchannels by orders of magnitude which, in turn, influences sample transport throughout these systems. Recent work has shown that CP enrichment and depletion zones can propagate through hybrid microchannel–nanochannel devices and profoundly affect the global behavior of the system. The Mani Group seeks to improve these methods and apply them to desalination devices.
 Interfaces between microfluidic and nanofluidic channels give rise to many previously unseen fluid dynamics |