BITS Faculty Publications

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    Hydrodynamics of electroosmotic flow in a microchannel with porous wall
    (2019-02) Bhattacharjee, Saikat
    Microchannel with porous wall has various microfluidic applications including iontophoresis, diagnostic devices, etc. In order to have an efficient and better design of such devices, exact quantification of velocity field in the microchannel needs to be established. In the present study, an analytical solution of velocity field in a microchannel with porous wall was obtained for a Newtonian fluid in case of a combined electroosmotic and pressure driven flow using perturbation technique. The velocity profile was reduced to well known solutions for three asymptotic cases, namely, purely electroosmotic flow and purely pressure driven flow in an impervious conduit as well as pressure driven flow with permeable wall. The pressure drop profile along the channel length was also generated. Effects of operating parameters, i.e., wall suction velocity, electrolyte concentration and channel half height on velocity and pressure fields were also investigated.
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    Effect of electrolyte nature in mass transport of a neutral solute in a microtube with porous wall
    (AIChE, 2019-08) Bhattacharjee, Saikat
    Electroosmotic flow in a microchannel is an active area in microfluidics. Microchannels with porous wall are advantageous due to selective separation and enhanced mass transport. An economic and innovative method to fabricate hollow microtubes and their application in electrokinetics are illustrated. Effects of asymmetric electrolyte on mass transport of a neutral macrosolute in the microtube with porous wall are investigated. The combined velocity profile including both pressure-driven and electroosmotic flow is modeled for different electrolytes. It is found from the study that the addition of higher valency asymmetric electrolyte (3:1) increases transport of neutral solutes across the porous wall compared to its symmetric counterpart (1:1). The developed model was validated with the experimental results, using a cartridge having hollow microtubes with porous wall. This study would be helpful to select an appropriate electrolyte, improving the design, and performance prediction of microfluidic devices.
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    Mass transfer of a neutral solute in polyelectrolyte grafted soft nanochannel with porous wall
    (Wiley, 2019-11) Bhattacharjee, Saikat
    A soft nanochannel involves a soft interface that contains a polyelectrolyte layer (PEL) sandwiched between a rigid surface and a bulk electrolyte solution. Mass transfer of a neutral solute in a combined electroosmotic and pressure driven flow through a polyelectrolyte grafted charged nanochannel with porous wall is presented in this work. Assuming the PEL as fixed charged layer and PEL-electrolyte interface as a semi-penetrable membrane, analytical solutions were obtained for potential distributions (for small wall potential). Velocity profiles were also derived in the same domains, for both inside and outside the PEL. Convective-diffusive species balance equation was semi-analytically solved inside the PEL. Expression of length averaged Sherwood number was also obtained and effects of different parameters, namely, drag parameter (α), Debye parameter urn:x-wiley:01730835:media:elps7092:elps7092-math-0001, and PEL thickness were studied in detail. The variation of permeate concentration and permeation flux across the porous wall was obtained.
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    Effects of finite ion size on transport of neutral solute across porous wall of a nanotube
    (Springer, 2020-07) Bhattacharjee, Saikat
    Effect of finite ion size on the transport of a neutral solute across the porous wall of a nanotube is presented in this study. Modified Poisson–Boltzmann equation without the Debye–Huckel approximation is used to determine the potential distribution within the tube. Power law fluid is selected for the study, as its rheology resembles closely to the real-life physiological fluids. The flow within the tube is actuated by the combined effects of pressure and electroosmotic forces. Steady-state solute balance equation is solved by the similarity technique in order to track the solute transport across the tube. The effects of ionic radius, ionic concentration, and flow behavioral index on the length-averaged Sherwood number, permeate flux, and permeate concentration are analyzed. This study will be extremely helpful in predicting the transport characteristics of a neutral solute in real physiological systems and also to fine-tune the performance of microfluidic devices having porous wall.
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    Role of electroosmosis in the permeation of neutral molecules: CymA and cyclodextrin as an example
    (Cell Press, 2016-02) Prajapati, Jigneshkumar Dahyabhai
    To quantify the flow of small uncharged molecules into and across nanopores, one often uses ion currents. The respective ion-current fluctuations caused by the presence of the analyte make it possible to draw some conclusions about the direction and magnitude of the analyte flow. However, often this flow appears to be asymmetric with respect to the applied voltage. As a possible reason for this asymmetry, we identified the electroosmotic flow (EOF), which is the water transport associated with ions driven by the external transmembrane voltage. As an example, we quantify the contribution of the EOF through a nanopore by investigating the permeation of a-cyclodextrin through CymA, a cyclodextrin-specific channel from Klebsiella oxytoca. To understand the results from electrophysiology on a molecular level, all-atom molecular dynamics simulations are used to detail the effect of the EOF on substrate entry to and exit from a CymA channel in which the N-terminus has been deleted. The combined experimental and computational results strongly suggest that one needs to account for the significant contribution of the EOF when analyzing the penetration of cyclodextrins through the CymA pore. This example study at the same time points to the more general finding that the EOF needs to be considered in translocation studies of neutral molecules and, at least in many cases, should be able to help in discriminating between translocation and binding events.
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    Effect of electroosmotic flow on the transport of α-cyclodextrin through the channel CymA
    (Elsevier, 2017-02) Prajapati, Jigneshkumar Dahyabhai
    CymA, an outer membrane channel of Klebsiella oxytoca, allows the passive diffusion of the bulky molecule α-cyclodextrin (α-CD, M.W. 972.8 Da) to the periplasm of the bacterium [1]. In single channel electrophysiology experiments, the flow of the uncharged α-CD was found asymmetric with respect to the applied voltage and ionic salts used. The net water current associated with the ion movement, i.e., the so-called electroosmotic flow (EOF), is induced by the ionic selectivity of the pore. This effects has been found to be a major factor behind the modified interactions of the α-CD molecule with the channel [2]. To get atomistic insight into the EOF on α-CD permeation, we have performed ∼40 μs free energy calculations in presence of three different ionic conditions, i.e., in the absence of ions, in the presence of 1 M KCl and of 1 M MgCl2, using well-tempered matadynamics simulations [3] applying an external field of 0 V, +1 V and −1 V. No major changes in the free energy landscapes were observed in the absence of ions at both polarities of the voltage. This finding indicates the absence of an electrophoretic effect on the neutral α-CD molecule and of an EOF mediated effect due to the absence ions. However, using an electric field together 1 M KCl salt, we observed significant free energy changes in the transport of the α-CD consistent with net EOF at both voltage polarities. Moreover, using 1 M MgCl2 salt, we demonstrate an alteration of the pore selectivity from cationic to anionic. Thereby, the direction of the resulting EOF at a particular voltage polarity and its effect on the α-CD permeation is inverted. These results highlight the role of the EOF in the transport of α-CD through the nanometer-sized CymA channel.