Friction reduction in grafted carbon nanochannels by applying an electric field

O Saleki and A Moosavi and SK Hannani, COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS SCIENCE, 213, 111676 (2022).

DOI: 10.1016/j.commatsci.2022.111676

Water can be pumped in nanochannels by limiting it between the surfaces with different hydrophobicities and exerting a spinning electric field. The asymmetrical hydrophobicity combined with the spinning electric field and the fact that the water molecules have a dipole moment create a situation in which the angular momentum of water molecules is transformed into a linear momentum and the water is pumped into the nanochannel. The hydrophobicity of the surfaces can be manipulated by using nanostructures to reduce friction. In this study, two types of nanostructures have been used which are hierarchical nanostructures and polymer nanostructures made of Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide). The walls of the nanochannel are grafted with nanostructures asymmetrically, i.e. the upper wall is flat while the bottom wall is grafted with nanostructures. This allows for the fluid in the nanochannel to be confined between the surfaces with different hydrophobicities and by applying the spinning electric field, a plane Poiseuille flow is created. The effects of the frequency and the amplitude of the spinning electric field on the behavior of the fluid have been investigated. Also, the effects of adding air to the flow for two-phase flow systems have been studied. The results reveal that the electric field can increase the flow rate by up to 475%.

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