Pumping and mixing in active pores

We show both numerically and analytically that a chemically patterned active pore can act as a micro/nano-pump for fluids, even if it is fore-aft symmetric. This is possible due to a spontaneous symmetry breaking which occurs when advection rather than diffusion is the dominant mechanism of solute t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2022-10
Main Authors: Antunes, G C, Malgaretti, P, Harting, J, Dietrich, S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Broken symmetry
Flow velocity
Fluid flow
Pumping
Reynolds number
Symmetry
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:We show both numerically and analytically that a chemically patterned active pore can act as a micro/nano-pump for fluids, even if it is fore-aft symmetric. This is possible due to a spontaneous symmetry breaking which occurs when advection rather than diffusion is the dominant mechanism of solute transport. We further demonstrate that, for pumping and tuning the flow rate, a combination of geometrical and chemical inhomogeneities is required. For certain parameter values, the flow is unsteady, and persistent oscillations with a tunable frequency appear. Finally, we find that the flow may lose its axial symmetry and hence promotes mixing in the low Reynolds number regime.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.2203.11773