Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb 11, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation advisor: Dr. Sheryl A. Tucker Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MScIng)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The moisture content of road foundations plays an important role in the durability of the pavement and the driving comfort of the road. After a pavement has been completed, gradual moisture changes occur in the foundations until equilibrium conditions can be reached, and this can have negative results if expansive clays, for example, are present in the foundation. Pre-wetting of the foundation material is seen as a method to minimilize moisture changes after construction, but if the pavement was already completed, it would be very difficult to change or alter the moisture content in the foundation, because water could then only be applied to the shoulder areas of the road and horizontal infiltration in the soil is exceptionally slow. The research which is reported in this account was undertaken to determine whether the process of electro-osmosis could be applied to accelerate water infiltration underneath covered areas, as in, for example, road foundation layers. Electro-osmosis, if found to be successful, has various advantages, of which the most important is that it can be applied without stopping the normal operations of the road. This research was carried out on a mixture of G5 material (TRH14 classification) and fine material in the form of clay with a low plasticity. Firstly, tests were performed to determine the percentage of fines required. It was found that, if too little fines were present infiltration did not occur, because moisture could flow freely through the openings between the rough aggregate. Electro-osmosis also had no effect on the rate of flow. The allocated amount of fines required to fill sufficient openings was about 30% (TRH14 classification of mixture is G10). Free flow was stopped and true infiltration occurred. Simultaneously, the rate of infiltration could be accelerated with electro-osmosis. Furthermore, a two-dimensional model of a road was constructed with electrodes placed on both sides, with the aim to determine the infiltration pattern controlled by electro-osmosis and what the effect of the initial moisture content would be on the process. Water was introduced to the one side of the model road and the wetting of the foundation was investigated. If the electric current for electro-osmosis was switched off, the infiltration was mainly vertical, as expected, but with the current switched on, there was an obvious acceleration of infiltration in the horizontal direction. As in the case of the initial tests, it was found that electro-osmosis was not very successful to accelerate horizontal infiltration at low percentages of fines. Furthermore, it was obvious that electroosmosis was also more effective if the initial moisture content of the soil was low. Low amounts of fines and high initial moisture contents had rather the electroosmotic flow of water passing underneath the road as a result instead of infiltration acceleration, with the result that the moisture content did not change much. The research thus showed that electro-osmosis is a possible manner in which moisture could be conducted into the foundation layers of roads to increase the moisture content if the appropriate amount of fines and moisture content were present in the foundation material. Further research could still be carried out and the materials in each case should be practically evaluated before this method could be continued with. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die voginhoud van padfondamente speel ’n belangrike rol in die duursaamheid van die plaveisel en die rygerief van die pad. Nadat ’n plaveisel voltooi is, vind daar geleidelike vogverandering in die fondamente plaas totdat ewewigstoestande bereik is, en dit kan nadelige gevolge inhou indien uitsettende kleie byvoorbeeld in die fundament teenwoordig is. Voorafbenatting van die fondamentmateriaal word gereken as ’n metode om vogveranderinge na konstruksie te minimeer, maar indien die plaveisel reeds voltooi is, is dit baie moeilik om die voginhoud in die fondament te verander of beheer omdat water dan slegs buite die skouerareas van die pad toegedien kan word en horisontale infiltrasie in grond uiters stadig is. Die navorsing waaroor hierin verslag gedoen word, is onderneem om te bepaal of die proses van elektro-osmose aangewend kan word om waterinfiltrasie onder bedekte areas, soos byvoorbeeld padfondamentlae, te versnel. Elektro-osmose, indien dit suksesvol blyk te wees, hou verskeie voordele in, waarvan die belangrikste dat dit aangewend kan word sonder om die normale bedryf van die pad te staak. Die ondersoek is uitgevoer op ’n mengsel van G5 materiaal (TRH14 klassifikasie) en fynstof in die vorm van klei met ’n lae plastisiteit. Eerstens is toetse uitgevoer om die persentasie fynstof wat nodig is, te bepaal. Daar is bevind dat, indien te min fynstof teenwoordig is, infiltrasie nie plaasvind nie aangesien water vryelik deur die openinge tussen die growwe aggregaat kan vloei. Elektro-osmose het ook geen effek op die vloeitempo gehad nie. Die aangewese hoeveelheid fynstof om genoegsame openinge te vul was ongeveer 30% (TRH14 klassifikasie van mengsel is G10). Vrye vloei is dan gestuit en ware infiltrasie het plaasgevind. Terselfdertyd kon die tempo van infiltrasie versnel word met elektro-osmose. Voorts is ’n twee-dimensionele model van ’n pad gebou, met elektrodes aan weerskante geplaas, met die doel om te bepaal of die infiltrasiepatroon deur elektro-osmose beheer kon word en wat die effek van beginvoginhoud op die proses sal wees. Water is aan een kant van die modelpad ingevoer en die benatting van die fondament bestudeer. Indien die elektriese stroom vir elektroosmose afgeskakel was, was die infiltrasie hoofsaaklik vertikaal, soos verwag, maar met die stroom aangeskakel was daar duidelike versnelling van infiltrasie in die horisontale rigting. Net soos in die geval van die aanvanklike toetse is bevind dat elektro-osmose nie baie suksesvol was om horisontale infiltrasie te versnel by lae persentasies fynstof nie. Dit het verder geblyk dat elektro-osmose ook meer effektief was indien die aanvanklike voginhoud van die grond laag was. Lae hoeveelhede fynstof en hoë aanvanklike voginhoude het eerder elektroosmotiese deurvloei van water onderdeur die pad tot gevolg gehad as infiltrasieversnelling, met die gevolg dat die voginhoud nie veel verander het nie. Die navorsing het dus getoon dat elektro-osmose ’n moontlike wyse is waarop water in die fondamentlae van paaie ingevoer kan word om die voginhoud te verhoog indien die geskikte hoeveelheid fynstof en voginhoud in die fondamentmateriaal teenwoordig is. Verdere navorsing kan nog uitgevoer word en die materiale van elke geval sal prakties evalueer moet word voordat met die metode voortgegaan kan word.

No description available.

<p dir="ltr">Nature moves small things by chemical energy. Inspired by this, catalytic reactions driven microswimmers have been designed and believed to be promising to help transport drugs and other cargos at microscales. However, decorating the microswimmers with drugs and cargos would make them heavy and hard to move. An alternative solution to this would be designing self-pumping devices that can pump the fluid and things carried by the fluid all together without external resources. In this work, we have presented the first full numerical model of electrochemically-powered self-pumping in the Pt-Au coated polycarbonate membrane reported by Jun and Hess [1]. The simulations demonstrate that autonomous flow in self-pumping membranes is an electro-osmotic flow driven by a self-generated electric field. The injection and consumption of H⁺ on Pt and Au respectively lead to a charge asymmetry and an associated electric field that acts on the electric double layers (EDL) coating the pore walls driving fluid move, i.e. self-electro-osmosis. Key parameters controlling the performance of self-pumping are pore radius and background pH values, as they affect the EDL overlap and ionic strength. Other parameters such as porosity and pore length can both be tuned to find the local optimum for a membrane design. By tuning these parameters, the trade-off between increased ionic current and increased ionic strength could be balanced, contributing to an optimum self-pumping performance. When inclination or deformation occurs in cylindrical pores, the self-pumping flow does not significantly deviate from the trend. Membranes with complicated shape of contracting/expanding pores and cross-linked connecting pores should follow same pattern as cylindrical pores with similar pore size. In addition, if we replace the Pt/Au catalytic pairs by TiO₂/Au photocatalytic pairs, self-pumping membrane could be driven by light. The geometry of pore enhances the light absorption, enabling self-pumping membrane achieving high flow rate at large porosity with relatively large pores. At the end, we provide experimental evidence of self-pumping flow on TiO₂-Au plates as well as self-pumping membrane driven by light.</p>

The flow profiles of pressure-driven and electro-kinetic driven flows were compared for a microfluidic chip. It was found that the pressure-driven flow had a parabolic profile while the electro-kinetic flow had a plug shaped flow profile. The measured velocities were similar to those determined by the Poiseuille flow model and the Helmholtz-Smoltchowski equation. Flow uniformity is very important for control in microfluidic mixers. Parabolic flow profiles lead to inconsistent reactions while the more uniform plug shape flow allow for a more steady reaction across the channel. Previous work had been performed to measure the flow of a solution of fluorescent polystyrene beads in PDMS channels using a laser confocal microscope. This showed that particles easily stuck to the channel making it difficult to measure over time. In addition, bubble formation in the channel made measuring velocities difficult. Current work used a LabSmith Video Synchronized microscope with software to measure the flow rates at different areas of the channel. Solutions of fluorescent polystyrene beads were used to visually observe the flow within a channel under a microscope. Four different channels were used for the pressure-driven flows of varying dimensions and materials. The channel with the best measured profile was also measured under electro-kinetic flow. A LabSmith High Voltage Sequencer was used to apply a voltage across the channel for electro-kinetic measurements. This research confirmed the different flow profiles under pressure-driven and electro-kinetic driven flow. Future work can be done to determine how this effects mixing in the channels.

Cette thèse de doctorat présente une étude expérimentale des propriétés rhéologiques d’électrolytes confinés et de la mécanique des doubles couches électrostatiques.Afin d’étudier simultanément les propriétés d’équilibre et de transport d’électrolytes confinés proches de parois électriquement chargées, nous avons développé un appareil à forces de surfaces dynamique. Cette technique combine à la fois des mesures à l’équilibre, à l’instar des appareils à forces de surfaces classiques, et des mesures dynamiques permettant de caractériser les phénomènes de transport.Nous avons tout d’abord étudié le cas d’électrolytes très dilués. Nous avons montré l’existence d’une sur-dissipation induite par les ions issus des électrolytes par rapport à un comportement newtonien classique. De plus, nous avons mis en évidence un comportement élastique des doubles couches électrostatiques dépendant de la fréquence. Une approche théorique vient compléter et expliquer en partie les résultats expérimentaux.Enfin nous nous sommes intéressés à la dynamique d’électrolytes concentrés : les liquides ioniques. Nous avons étudié l’influence, sur la viscosité et les propriétés du liquide à l’interface solide-liquide, d’un champ électrique intense appliqué perpendiculairement à l’écoulement, comme rencontré dans les super-condensateurs. / This thesis presents an experimental study of rheological properties of confined electrolytes and mechanics of electric double layer.In order to study simultaneously equilibrium and transport of confined electrolytes nearby charged surfaces, we developed a dynamic surface force apparatus. This technique enables both steady state measurements, as provided by common surface forces apparatus, and dynamic measurements that allow characterizing the transport phenomenona.First, we showed the existence of an over-dissipative behavior of weak electrolytes compared to a classical newtonian fluid. Furthermore we highlighted a frequency dependence of the EDL elastic behavior. Alongside, a theoretical approach completes and explains partially the experimental observations.Finally we studied the dynamics of ionic liquid, a type of concentrated electrolytes. We looked at the influence of a huge electric field, applied perpendicularly to the surfaces, on the viscosity and the properties of the liquid nearby the surfaces, as found in super-capacitors.

L'industrie minière produit d'énormes quantités de déchet (millions de tonnes par an), souvent sous forme de boue à cause de la forte teneur en eau et en argile. Ces boues liquides sont problématiques car elles se consolident très lentement : elles limitent la réhabilitation des parcs à résidus où elles sont stockées et augmentent le risque de rupture des barrages entourant les parcs à résidus (coulée de boue). Améliorer l'assèchement des boues minières est nécessaire afin d'augmenter la stabilité des parcs à résidus et de recycler l'eau contenue dans la boue. La solution proposée dans cette thèse consiste à insérer des géocomposites de drainage (GCP) dans les parcs à résidus afin de permettre à l'eau contenue dans la boue de s'évacuer. Pour mobiliser l'eau dans ces boues à faible conductivité hydraulique, deux phénomènes ont été investigués : la consolidation des boues sous contrainte mécanique et la migration de l'eau par électro-osmose (EO). Afin d'attester de la faisabilité d'appliquer ces 2 phénomènes avec des GCP, chacune des fonctions des GCP a été évaluée : les fonctions de base (filtration et drainage) pour provoquer l'asséchement mécanique et une nouvelle fonction de conduction électrique pour appliquer l'EO.La filtration de boue par géotextile (GTX) a été investiguée car contrairement à la filtration de sol, elle demeurait peu décrite dans la littérature et semblait délicate à cause de l'argilosité de la boue. Des tests de filtration sous pression ont permis de tester 8 GTX avec une même boue argileuse, puis 8 boues de granularités différentes avec un même GTX. Les résultats indiquent que les GTX n'ont un impact qu'au début de la filtration : ils retiennent les particules les plus grossières ce qui induit la formation d'un gâteau de filtration qui devient rapidement l'élément filtrant, le GTX n'est alors plus qu'un support. Une même boue filtrée par 8 GTX différents conduit à un même assèchement alors que les 8 boues différentes filtrées avec un même GTX conduisent à 8 assèchements différents : l'assèchement final est contrôlé par la composition de la boue et est totalement indépendant du GTX utilisé. Ces essais de filtration ont permis d'évaluer l'assèchement mécanique des boues : la pression appliquée (50kPa) conduit à l'expulsion de l'eau libre, alors que l'eau liée reste dans la boue. Cela est dû aux différents niveaux de liaison de l'eau dans la boue : l'eau liée ne peut être extraite mécaniquement. Ainsi les fonctions de base des GCP provoquent un asséchement mécanique du à l'augmentation de la contrainte lors du remplissage des parcs à résidus. En revanche, l'asséchement mécanique est limité à l'extraction de l'eau libre ; il est apparu essentiel de proposer un nouveau moteur pour extraire l'eau liée.La principale innovation de ce travail est l'ajout d'une nouvelle fonction au GCP : l'ajout d'éléments conducteurs dans les GCP permet d'appliquer l'EO dans les boues. Ce phénomène permet de mobiliser une partie de l'eau liée en imposant un courant électrique. Des prototypes de GCP électrocinétique (eGCP) ont été développés et testés dans un dispositif expérimental dédié. Les résultats montrent que la filtration et la conduction électrique sont assurées efficacement par les eGCP disposés de part et d'autre de la boue. La boue testée est issue des sables bitumineux (FFT) et est très problématique car sa consolidation est extrêmement lente. Les résultats obtenus sont très encourageants : la phase mécanique porte la siccité de la boue de 45% à 61%, puis l'EO permet d'atteindre une siccité de 77% et une résistance au cisaillement de 77 kPa, alors que la réglementation exige d'atteindre 10 kPa.Pour conclure, les différentes expérimentations montrent que les boues minières peuvent être asséchées par des GCP en cumulant les effets de la compression mécanique, grâce aux fonctions classiques des GCP et de l'EO grâce à l'ajout d'une nouvelle fonction de conduction électrique. Cette solution a fait l'objet d'un brevet / A host of mining practices produces huge quantity of fine-grained mineral sludges whose disposal in ponds is often challenging. The key problem caused by these sludges is their very poor geotechnical properties, which are caused by their high water and clay content. These sludges are hard to dewater because of their low hydraulic conductivity. Dewatering sludges to increase its shear strength and reduce the volume of material to be contained thus represents a preferred path to reduce the risk of pond's failure, reduce the pond's footprint, and maximize water recycling. To dewater mining sludges, the solution foreseen in this PhD is to intercalate some geocomposites (GCPs) layers within the sludge-disposal area to create draining horizons to permit mechanical dewatering and to apply electro-osmosis (EO) across sludges layers to induce water migration. To evaluate the efficiency of GCPs at enhancing sludges dewatering by both of these phenomena, the different functions of GCPs (filtration, drainage, and electric conduction) were experimentally investigated during this PhD.To study sludge filtration by geotextile (GTX), pressure filtration tests were used to filter 8 different high-clay-content sludges with 8 different nonwoven GTXs. Only a few studies have considered the filtration of sludge by GTXs. The sludges were formulated by mixing kaolinite and silt to obtain 8 different grain-size distributions. The results indicate that sludges can be filtered with nonwoven GTXs selected on the basis of their pore-opening size. In addition, only during the early stage of filtration GTXs really influence filtering because it is at this stage that, by retaining coarser particles, they allow progressive formation of filter cake. Upon forming, the filter cake becomes the major contributor to particle retention. The sludge composition is found to be the most significant factor affecting the final state of dewatering. In other words, the GTX does not control the final dewatering; the sludge itself controls the final solid content. These filtration tests showed that mechanical dewatering is effective for removing free water, but bounded water remains in the sludge because of the high bonding forces between water and solid matter. Facing this limitation of mechanical dewatering, a new way to extract bounded water had to be proposed.The main innovation brought by this PhD concerns the addition of a new function to GCP, by adding conductive elements into the GCP to apply EO in the sludge. Electro-osmosis (EO) forces water to migrate from anode to cathode and is sufficient to remove a significant portion of bounded water that cannot be removed by mechanical dewatering. Some prototypes of electro-kinetics GCP (eGCP) were developed, and tested in a new laboratory setup. This experimental device was developed to evaluate simultaneously the different functions of eGCPs, namely, drainage or filtration and electrical conductivity. It has the particularity that it uses eGCPs as both a draining medium and electrode. The results show that fluid fine tailings (FFTs), a particularly hard to dewater sludge from oil-sand exploitation, are significantly dewatered by the combination of normal stress compression, and then EO treatment: the FFT solids content increased from 45% to 61% during the compression phase and to 77% during the EO phase. The applied treatment led to a significant consolidation of the FFT: shear strength increased from zero to about 77 kPa which is significantly greater than the 10 kPa required by government regulations.To conclude, eGCPs can drain water expulsed during sludge consolidation in response to the filling of the disposal area, thanks to the classical function of GCP, as well as impose a voltage across FFT to displace water by electro-osmosis from anode to cathode, thanks to conductive elements embedded in eGCP. This solution was patented at the end of the PhD.

L'électrodialyse peut être utilisée pour traiter des effluents salins contenant de la matière organique. La compréhension des mécanismes de transfert (eau, ions, espèces organiques) à travers les membranes échangeuses d'ions et particulièrement l'influence de la composition ionique est un point clé vis-à-vis des performances du procédé. L'objectif de cette thèse est l'étude du transfert et la relation avec les performances de dessalement. Les nombres d'hydratation des ions sont tout d'abord calculés à partir des mesures du transfert des ions et de l'eau. Ils sont indépendants du courant et de la composition saline. La comparaison avec des valeurs de la littérature montre que les membranes ont peu d'effet sur l'hydratation des ions. Le transfert d'espèces organiques est ensuite étudié pour différentes compositions salines. Outre la diffusion, une contribution additionnelle est mise en évidence (convection pour les espèces neutres, migration pour les espèces chargées). Pour les espèces neutres, diffusion et convection sont du même ordre de grandeur et fixées par l'effet stérique. Des tendances inverses sont obtenues concernant l'hydratation des ions, la diffusion étant limitée par les modifications des membranes, la convection étant limitée par l'hydratation des espèces organiques en solution. Pour les espèces chargées, la migration domine la diffusion, les deux contributions étant influencées par la présence de sel. Les performances de dessalement sont enfin discutées sur la base d'un modèle phénoménologique à 4 paramètres liés au transfert de l'eau, des ions et des espèces organiques. La robustesse du modèle est validée pour différentes conditions. Ce travail montre que l'électrodialyse est une technologie très prometteuse pour le dessalement d'effluents contenant de la matière organique. / Electrodialysis can be used to treat saline water containing organic solute, separating organic solutes from salt. The understanding of salt, water and organic solute transfer through ion- exchange membranes and especially the influence of salt composition is a key factor regarding the process performances. The aim of the Thesis is to investigate the mass transfer and the relationship with the desalination performance. Firstly, hydration numbers of individual ion transferring through the membranes are computed based on experimental measurements of ion- water flux. They are independent from the salt compositions and current. Comparison with literatures values shows that the membranes have a weak influence on the ion hydration. Secondly, the transfer of different organic solutes is investigated with different salt compositions. Two contributions are pointed out, diffusion and additional one (convection for neutral solute, migration for charged one). For neutral solutes, diffusion and convection are comparable and both fixed by steric effect. Ion hydration leads to reversed trend for diffusion due to membrane swelling and convection due to solute dehydration. For charged solute, migration is more important than diffusion, both being influenced by the presence of salt. Then, desalination performance is discussed based on a phenomenological model, consisting of 4 parameters, related to ion, water and organic solute transfer respectively. The robustness of the model is demonstrated for different conditions. This work shows that electrodialysis can be a very promising process for the desalination of saline water containing organic solutes.

In this thesis, microelectrode arrays of micropumps have been designed, fabricated and characterized for transporting microfluid by AC electro-osmosis (ACEO). In particular, the 3D stepped electrode design which shows superior performance to others in literature is adopted for making micropumps, and the performance of such devices has been studied and explored. A novel fabrication process has also been developed in the work, realizing 3D stepped electrodes on a flexible substrate, which is suitable for biomedical use, for example glaucoma implant. There are three major contributions to ACEO pumping in the work. First, a novel design of 3D “T-shaped” discrete electrode arrays was made using PolyMUMPs® process. The breakthrough of this work was discretizing the continuous 3D stepped electrodes which were commonly seen in the past research. The “T-shaped” electrodes did not only create ACEO flows on the top surfaces of electrodes but also along the side walls between separated electrodes. Secondly, four 3D stepped electrode arrays were designed, fabricated and tested. It was found from the experiment that PolyMUMPs® ACEO electrodes usually required a higher driving voltage than gold electrodes for operation. It was also noticed that a simulation based on the modified model taking into account the surface oxide of electrodes showed a better agreement with the experimental results. It thus demonstrated the possibility that the surface oxide of electrodes had impact on fluidic pumping. This methodology could also be applied to metal electrodes with a native oxide layer such as titanium and aluminum. Thirdly, a prototype of the ACEO pump with 3D stepped electrode arrays was first time realized on a flexible substrate using Kapton polyimide sheets and packaged with PDMS encapsulants. Comprehensive experimental testing was also conducted to evaluate the mechanical properties as well as the pumping performance. The experimental findings indicated that this fabrication process was a promising method to create flexible ACEO pumps that can be used as medical implants and wearable devices. / Thesis (Ph.D, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2013-05-06 10:57:48.077