 The equations for potential field within the double layer can be combined as

Electro-osmotic flow is commonly used in microfluidic devices, soil analysis and processing, and chemical analysis, all of which routinely involve systems with highly charged surfaces, often of oxides.One example is capillary electrophoresis, in which electric fields are used to separate chemicals according to their electrophoretic mobility by applying an electric field to a narrow capillary, usually made of silica.In electrophoretic separations, the electroosmotic flow affects the elution time of the analytes.