The EDL Effect in Microchannel Flow: A Critical Review

Microchannels are currently being used in many areas and have high potential for applications in many other areas. The application areas include Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), microfuidics such as microchannel heat sinks for cooling micro-chips and laser diode arrays, Lab-On-Chip devices for chemical and bio-medical analyses, biotechnology, telecommunications, metrology, computer technology, office equipment and home appliances, safety technology, process engineering, robotics, automotive engineering and environmental protection and micro fluid pumps, etc. In this paper, a bibliographical review of the electric double layer effect in microchannels is presented. The effect of different parameters such as friction coefficient, Nusselt number, aspect ratio on the performance of microchannel with EDL is critically reviewed. The available numerical and experimental works quoted in the open literature are critically analysed in order to highlight the EDL effect in microchannel flow.