Interfacially driven transport theory: a way to unify Marangoni and Osmotic flows

Abstract

We show that the solvent behaviour in both diffusio-osmosis and Marangoni flow can be derived from a simple model of colloid-interface interactions. We demonstrate that the direction of the flow is regulated by a single value of the attractive parameter covering the purely repulsive and attractive – repulsive interaction cases. The proposed universality between diffusio-osmosis and Marangoni flow is extended further to include diffusio-phoresis. In particular, an object immersed to a colloidal solution moves towards the low concentration of the colloidal particles in the case of colloid-interface repulsion and towards the high concentration of the colloidal particles in the case of colloid-interface attraction. The approach combines the methods of fluid dynamics, molecular physics and transport phenomena and provides a tractable explanation of how the colloid-interface interactions affect the momentum balance and the transport phenomena (interfacially driven transport).