Force-driven migration of particles in ordered porous media

Brownian dynamics simulation has been employed to study the behavior of force-driven particle migration in different ordered porous media comprised of periodically interconnected spherical cavities, representing inverted colloidal crystals. The effects of the imposed field strength and direction on the particle mobility and direction are investigated. The simulation results find that in a weak or intermediate field, the mobility normalized by the value in free solvent behaves in a similar way as the normalized diffusivity when the porosity is varied. Under a strong field, the normalized mobility can increase or decrease with the field strength, depending on the field direction relative to the cavity arrangement. If the imposed field is not aligned with any unobstructed pathway, the mobility tensor may become anisotropic and prolonged particle entrapment may also take place.