Electrokinetic phenomena are a family of several different effects that occur in heterogeneous fluids, or in porous bodies filled with fluid, or in a fast flow over a flat surface.
Particles can be solid, liquid or gas bubbles with sizes on the scale of a micrometer or nanometer.
[1][2][3] There is a common source of all these effects—the so-called interfacial 'double layer' of charges.
Influence of an external force on the diffuse layer generates tangential motion of a fluid with respect to an adjacent charged surface.
Various combinations of the driving force and moving phase determine various electrokinetic effects.