Entropic Splitter for Particle Separation
Statistical Mechanics
2012-02-10 v1 Soft Condensed Matter
Abstract
We present a particle separation mechanism which induces motion of particles of different sizes in opposite directions. The mechanism is based on the combined action of a driving force and an entropic rectification of the Brownian fluctuations caused by the asymmetric form of the channel along which particles proceed. The entropic splitting effect shown could be controlled upon variation of the geometrical parameters of the channel and could be implemented in narrow channels and microfluidic devices.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1112.0874,
title = {Entropic Splitter for Particle Separation},
author = {D. Reguera and A. Luque and P. S. Burada and G. Schmid and J. M. Rubí and P. Hänggi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1112.0874},
year = {2012}
}
Comments
5 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett