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Boosting migration of large particles by solute contrasts

Nature Materials volume 7, pages 785–789 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Brownian diffusion is a keystone concept in a large variety of domains, from physics, chemistry to biology1. Diffusive transport controls situations as diverse as reaction–diffusion processes in biology and chemistry2,3,4, Brownian ratchet processes5,6,7, dispersion in microfluidic devices8,9 or even double-diffusive instability and salt-fingering phenomena in the context of ocean mixing10. Although these examples span a broad range of length scales, diffusive transport becomes increasingly inefficient for larger particles. Applications, for example, in microfluidics, usually have recourse to alternative driving methods involving external sources to induce and control migration. Here, we demonstrate experimentally a strongly enhanced migration of large particles, achieved by slaving their dynamics to that of a fast carrier species, a dilute salt. The underlying fast salt diffusion leads to an apparent diffusive-like dynamics of the large particles, which is up to two orders of magnitude faster than their natural ‘bare’ diffusion. Moreover both spreading and focusing of the particle assembly can be achieved on demand. A model description shows a remarkable quantitative agreement with all measured data. Applications of this process are illustrated in microfluidics for filtering and concentrating operations, as well as in conjunction with standard hydrodynamic focusing. In a wider perspective, this mechanism can affect a broad range of scales and phenomena, from biological transport to the dispersion of sediments and pollutants in oceanographic situations.

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Figure 1: Solute-induced spreading or focusing of colloidal particles.
Figure 2: Salt-induced enhanced migration of the particles.
Figure 3: Dynamical evolution of the colloid density profiles.
Figure 4: Microfluidic application of the diffusiophoretic effect.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank J. Bellier and P. Joseph for fruitful interactions, B. Burdin and CTμ for the confocal images and S. Roux for his help in the zeta potential measurements. L.B. acknowledges illuminating discussions with A. Colin, D. Braun, M. Bourgoin, H.C. Berg and G. Pawlak and support from the von Humboldt foundation. This work was supported by A.N.R. program pNANO.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire PMCN, Université Lyon 1,

    B. Abécassis, C. Cottin-Bizonne, C. Ybert & L. Bocquet

  2. Université de Lyon, UMR CNRS 5586, 69622 Villeurbanne, France

    B. Abécassis, C. Cottin-Bizonne, C. Ybert & L. Bocquet

  3. UMR CNRS Gulliver 7083, ESPCI, 75005 Paris, France

    B. Abécassis & A. Ajdari

  4. Physics Department, Technische Universität München, 85748 Garching, Germany

    L. Bocquet

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  1. B. Abécassis
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  4. A. Ajdari
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  5. L. Bocquet
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Correspondence to L. Bocquet.

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Abécassis, B., Cottin-Bizonne, C., Ybert, C. et al. Boosting migration of large particles by solute contrasts. Nature Mater 7, 785–789 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2254

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