Speeding chemical reactions by focusing

J Chem Phys. 2013 Apr 14;138(14):144502. doi: 10.1063/1.4799875.

Abstract

We present numerical results for a chemical reaction of colloidal particles which are transported by a laminar fluid and are focused by periodic obstacles in such a way that the two components are well mixed and consequently the chemical reaction is speeded up. The roles of the various system parameters (diffusion coefficients, reaction rate, and obstacles sizes) are studied. We show that focusing speeds up the reaction from the diffusion limited rate ∼t(-1/2) to very close to the perfect mixing rate, ∼t(-1).