Electro-Osmotic Flow With Free Surface in Nanochannels

A thin-film flow induced by the electro-osmosis is studied. In contrast to the single-phase electro-osmosis flow through micro- and nanochannels, the flow considered has a free surface, which may deform with the flow developments. A new type of interfacial instability is identified via a linear stability analysis, and subsequent nonlinear flow behavior, including that for the film surface corrugations, is examined by deriving an evolution equation.