Electroosmotic flow of cobalt-ferrite nanoparticles in water and ethylene glycol through a ciliary annulus: A biomedical application

Electrophoresis. 2023 Aug 17. doi: 10.1002/elps.202300137. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

Unique magnetic characteristics of cobalt-ferrite nanoparticles make them suitable for biological imaging and therapeutic applications. Understanding their activity in nanofluids via the ciliary annulus could lead to better contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging and improved cancer therapy and other medical therapies. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the theoretical conclusions regarding the transport of a nanofluid by electroosmosis across a ciliary annulus. The nanofluid consists of cobalt-ferrite nanoparticles (CoFe2 O4 ), water (H2 O), and ethylene glycol (C2 H6 O2 ). As part of the investigation into constructing a physical model, mathematical analysis is performed based on the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy. Dimension-free analysis and mathematical constraints are utilized to learn more about the system. By generating differential equations and including suitable boundary conditions, one can obtain exact solutions, which can then be visually inspected. Recent studies have demonstrated an inverse relationship between flow velocity and cilia length, zeta potential, and Helmholtz-Smoluchowski velocity. The streamlines show that the growth of the trapping boluses is affected by several factors, including the nanoparticles' volume fraction, the cilia's length, the amplitude ratio, the eccentricity, and the zeta potential. These results not only shed light on how nanofluids move, but they also have potential applications in microfluidics, heat transfer, and biomedical engineering.

Keywords: annulus; cilia motion; electroosmosis; exact solutions; nanofluid.