Narrative: The principal investigator has observed in his laboratory a novel phenomenon called "electrokinetic lift": a normal force produced by a streaming potential generated by the sliding of two charged surfaces separated by a thin gap of electrolyte solution. He proposes to analyze and model electrokinetic lift of colloidal particles for three-dimensional flows for both thick and thin double layers. The results of this research are important to processes such as lubrication, hydrodynamic chromatography, filtration, and particle detachment and deposition. Changes in the sphere-wall separation distance, which are an indication of lift, will be measured using a new technique called total-internal-reflection microscopy (TIRM). It is also proposed to develop TIRM for the purposes of this research.
