Mesoscopic Simulation Methods for Studying Flow and Transport in Electric Fields in Micro- and Nanochannels

In the past decades, several mesoscale simulation techniques have emerged as tools to study hydrodynamic flow phenomena on scales in the range of nanoto micrometers. Examples are Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD), Multiparticle Collision Dynamics (MPCD), or Lattice Boltzmann (LB) methods. These methods allow one to access time and length scales which are not yet within reach of atomistic Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations, often at relatively moderate computational expense. They can be coupled with particle-based (e.g., molecular dynamics) simulation methods for thermally fluctuating nanoscale objects, such as colloids or large molecules. This makes them particularly attractive for the application in microfluidic or nanofluidic research.