A wide spectrum of electrokinetic studies is modelled as isothermal ones to
expedite analysis even when such conditions may be extremely difficult to
realize in practice. As a clear and novel departure from this trend, we address
the case of flow-induced electrohydrodynamics, commonly referred to as
streaming potential, in a situation where finite temperature gradients do
indeed exist. By way of analysing a model problem of flow through a narrow
parallel plate channel, we show that the temperature gradients have a
significant effect on the streaming potential, and, consequently, on the flow
itself. We incorporate thermoelectric effects in our model by a full-fledged
coupling among the electric potential, the ionic species distribution, the
fluid velocity and the local fluid temperature fields without resorting to ad
hoc simplifications. We expect this expository study to contribute towards more
sophisticated future inquiries into practical micro-/nano-fluidic applications
coupling thermal field focusing with electrokinetic effects.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure
