Electrohydrodynamics and ion transport phenomena in conducting and dielectric fluids have received intense attention from the scientific community over the last few years. The wide variety of physical effects in conjunction with the fluid-fluid and fluid-solid interface interactions as well as non-uniformities of the bulk properties have a significant impact on the flow in narrow channels[13]. Research into these phenomena has opened new and diverse applications in the general framework of micro and nanofluidics, ranging from liquid pumping, electric field-based fabrication methods to DNA-manipulation, to name a few[46].
Isothermal conditions in electrokinetic flows are challenging to achieve in practice. This work accesses the implications and significance of thermally induced ion diffusion in symmetric electrolytes in non-isothermal electrokinetic flow using molecular dynamics simulation. The phonon density of states is calculated to qualitatively understand the Soret effect in the system for various surface polarities. Our results elucidate the electrokinetic properties of carbon-based material electrodes for use in thermal storage systems. Also, the application of thermophoresis as a transport mechanism in charged hydrophobic nanochannel is investigated.