Giant amplification of interfacially driven transport by hydrodynamic slip: diffusio-osmosis and beyond

Abstract

We demonstrate that "moderate" departures from the no-slip hydrodynamic boundary condition (hydrodynamic slip lengths in the nanometer range) can result in a very large enhancement - up to two orders of magnitude- of most interfacially driven transport phenomena. We study analytically and numerically the case of neutral solute diffusio-osmosis in a slab geometry to account for non-trivial couplings between interfacial structure and hydrodynamic slip. Possible outcomes are fast transport of particles in externally applied or self-generated gradient, and flow enhancement in nano- or micro-fluidic geometries.