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Fluid dynamics

Vortex rings in a constant electric field

Nature volume 424, pages 267–268 (2003)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 31 July 2003

Despite nearly two centuries of study, the response of colloidal suspensions to electric fields can be surprising, particularly if the suspended particles also interact with each other. We describe a previously unrecognized class of hierarchically organized dynamic patterns that arises in aqueous charge-stabilized colloidal suspensions when electrohydrodynamic forces due to constant applied fields compete with gravity.

Ions in solution screen out the electric field for biases below 2.4 V. Sustained upward forces occur only at higher biases for which hydrolysis at the electrodes feeds steady-state ionic fluxes, which in turn exert electroviscous forces on the charged spheres2,3. These fluxes are spatially uniform in the parallel plate geometry, so that the force on an isolated sphere is independent of height h. Consequently, well-separated spheres (less than 0.01 monolayer) rise straight to the upper electrode at biases high enough to overcome gravity.

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Figure 1: Levitating hierarchically structured colloidal vortex rings.

References

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  1. Department of Physics, The James Franck Institute, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, University of Chicago, Chicago, 60637, Illinois, USA

    David G. Grier

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  1. David G. Grier
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Grier, D. Vortex rings in a constant electric field. Nature 424, 267–268 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/424267b

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