An electroosmotic pump (EOP), or EO pump, is used for generating flow or pressure by use of an electric field.
One application of this is removing liquid flooding
water
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as ...
from channels and gas
diffusion
Diffusion is the net movement of anything (for example, atoms, ions, molecules, energy) generally from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Diffusion is driven by a gradient in Gibbs free energy or chemical p ...
layers and direct
hydration of the
proton exchange membrane in the
membrane electrode assembly (MEA) of the
proton exchange membrane fuel cell
A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' elementary charge. Its mass is slightly less than that of a neutron and 1,836 times the mass of an electron (the proton–electron mas ...
s.
Principle
Electroosmotic pumps are fabricated from
silica
Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is o ...
nanospheres or hydrophilic
porous glass, the
pump
A pump is a device that moves fluids ( liquids or gases), or sometimes slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic energy. Pumps can be classified into three major groups according to the method the ...
ing mechanism is generated by an external
electric field applied on an
electric double layer (EDL), generates high pressures (e.g., more than 340
atm (34
MPa) at 12
kV applied potentials) and high flow rates (e.g., 40
ml/min at 100
V in a pumping structure less than 1 cm³ in volume). EO pumps are compact, have no moving parts, and scale favorably with fuel cell design. The EO pump might drop the
parasitic load of water management in fuel cells from 20% to 0.5% of the fuel cell power.
Types
Cascaded electroosmotic pumps
High pressures or high
flow rate
Flow rate may refer to:
* Flow measurement, a quantification of bulk fluid movement
* Mass flow rate, the mass of a substance which passes per unit of time
* Volumetric flow rate, the volume of fluid which passes per unit time
** Discharge (hydrol ...
s are obtained by positioning several regular electroosmotic pumps in series or parallel respectively.
Porous electroosmotic pump
Porous pumping is created by the use of
sintered glass.
Planar shallow electroosmotic pump
Planar shallow electroosmotic pumps are made of parallel shallow
microchannels.
Electroosmotic micropumps
Electroosmotic effects can also be induced without external fields in order to power micron-scale motion. Bimetallic gold/silver patches have been shown to generate local fluid pumping by this mechanism when hydrogen peroxide is added to the solution. A related motion can be induced by silver phosphate particles, which can be tailored to generate reversible firework behavior among other properties.
See also
*
Capillary electrophoresis
Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is a family of electrokinetic separation methods performed in submillimeter diameter capillaries and in micro- and nanofluidic channels. Very often, CE refers to capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE), but other elect ...
*
Electroosmotic flow
*
Glossary of fuel cell terms
The Glossary of fuel cell terms lists the definitions of many terms used within the fuel cell industry. The terms in this fuel cell glossary may be used by fuel cell industry associations, in education material and fuel cell codes and standards to ...
*
Microfluidics
*
Micropump
*
Sol-gel
References
{{reflist
External links
Electroosmotic pump and its applicationsPrinciples of electroosmotic pumps
Hydrogen technologies
Pumps
Microfluidics
Fuel cells