Electrokinetic phenomena are a family of several different effects that occur in

heterogeneous Homogeneity and heterogeneity are concepts often used in the sciences and statistics relating to the uniformity of a substance or organism. A material or image that is homogeneous is uniform in composition or character (i.e. color, shape, siz ...

fluids In physics, a fluid is a liquid, gas, or other material that continuously deforms (''flows'') under an applied shear stress, or external force. They have zero shear modulus, or, in simpler terms, are substances which cannot resist any shear ...

, or in porous bodies filled with fluid, or in a fast flow over a flat surface. The term

here means a fluid containing particles. Particles can be

solid Solid is one of the State of matter#Four fundamental states, four fundamental states of matter (the others being liquid, gas, and Plasma (physics), plasma). The molecules in a solid are closely packed together and contain the least amount o ...

, liquid or

gas Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...

bubbles with sizes on the scale of a

micrometer Micrometer can mean: * Micrometer (device), used for accurate measurements by means of a calibrated screw * American spelling of micrometre The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; ...

nanometer 330px, Different lengths as in respect to the molecular scale. The nanometre (international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: nm) or nanometer (American and British English spelling differences#-re ...

.Dukhin, A. S. and Goetz, P. J. ''Characterization of liquids, nano- and micro- particulates and porous bodies using Ultrasound'', Elsevier, 2017 There is a common source of all these effects—the so-called interfacial 'double layer' of charges. Influence of an external

force In physics, a force is an influence that can change the motion of an object. A force can cause an object with mass to change its velocity (e.g. moving from a state of rest), i.e., to accelerate. Force can also be described intuitively as a p ...

on the

diffuse layer A double layer (DL, also called an electrical double layer, EDL) is a structure that appears on the surface of an object when it is exposed to a fluid. The object might be a solid particle, a gas bubble, a liquid droplet, or a porous body. The D ...

generates tangential motion of a fluid with respect to an adjacent charged surface. This force might be

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

pressure gradient In atmospheric science, the pressure gradient (typically of Earth's atmosphere, air but more generally of any fluid) is a physical quantity that describes in which direction and at what rate the pressure increases the most rapidly around a particu ...

concentration gradient Molecular diffusion, often simply called diffusion, is the thermal motion of all (liquid or gas) particles at temperatures above absolute zero. The rate of this movement is a function of temperature, viscosity of the fluid and the size (mass) of ...

, or

gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...

. In addition, the moving phase might be either continuous

fluid In physics, a fluid is a liquid, gas, or other material that continuously deforms (''flows'') under an applied shear stress, or external force. They have zero shear modulus, or, in simpler terms, are substances which cannot resist any shear ...

dispersed phase A colloid is a mixture in which one substance consisting of microscopically dispersed insoluble particles is suspended throughout another substance. Some definitions specify that the particles must be dispersed in a liquid, while others extend ...

Family

Various combinations of the driving force and moving phase determine various electrokinetic effects. According to J.Lyklema, the complete family of electrokinetic phenomena includes: *

electrophoresis Electrophoresis, from Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron, "amber") and φόρησις (phórēsis, "the act of bearing"), is the motion of dispersed particles relative to a fluid under the influence of a spatially uniform electric fie ...

, as motion of particles under influence of electric field; *

electro-osmosis Electroosmotic flow (or electro-osmotic flow, often abbreviated EOF; synonymous with electroosmosis or electroendosmosis) is the motion of liquid induced by an applied potential across a porous material, capillary tube, membrane, microchannel, or an ...

, as motion of liquid in porous body under influence of electric field; *

diffusiophoresis Diffusiophoresis is the spontaneous motion of colloidal particles or molecules in a fluid, induced by a concentration gradient of a different substance. In other words, it is motion of one species, A, in response to a concentration gradient in an ...

, as motion of particles under influence of a

chemical potential In thermodynamics, the chemical potential of a species is the energy that can be absorbed or released due to a change of the particle number of the given species, e.g. in a chemical reaction or phase transition. The chemical potential of a species ...

gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p is the "direction and rate of fastest increase". If the gradi ...

; * capillary osmosis, as motion of liquid in porous body under influence of the

; * sedimentation potential, as electric field generated by sedimenting

colloid A colloid is a mixture in which one substance consisting of microscopically dispersed insoluble particles is suspended throughout another substance. Some definitions specify that the particles must be dispersed in a liquid, while others extend ...

particles; * streaming potential/current, as either electric potential or current generated by fluid moving through porous body, or relative to flat surface; *

colloid vibration current Colloid vibration current is an electroacoustic phenomenon that arises when ultrasound propagates through a fluid that contains ions and either solid particles or emulsion droplets. Dukhin, A.S. and Goetz, P.J"Characterization of liquids, nano- a ...

, as electric current generated by particles moving in fluid under influence of

ultrasound Ultrasound is sound waves with frequency, frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing range, hearing. Ultrasound is not different from "normal" (audible) sound in its physical properties, except that humans cannot hea ...

; * electric sonic amplitude, as ultrasound generated by colloidal particles in oscillating electric field.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Electrokinetic Phenomena Colloidal chemistry Condensed matter physics Soft matter Non-equilibrium thermodynamics Electrochemistry

Family

Further reading

See also

References