| 초록 |
Electrokinetic microfluidics has a promising application to micro energy harvesting by micro-electro mechanical system (MEMS) devices, where the mechanical power of pressure-driven flow is converted into the electrical power. We apply the polymer solution flow in multiple microchannels to improve the efficiency of energy conversion, by adding polyacrylic acid (PAA) to KCl solution as a working fluid. Higher viscous polymer solution can significantly reduce the input power because of smaller volumetric flow rates than the case of using the simple electrolyte solution. If the thickness of depletion layer is larger than that of the electric double layer (EDL), then the contribution of polymer additive onto the electrokinetic effect does not occur. This allows to maintain the consistency of the output electrical power, which results in the higher efficiency of energy conversion. |
