Electrokinetic phenomena are a family of several different effects that occur in heterogeneous fluids or in porous bodies filled with fluid. The sum of these phenomena deals with the effect on a particle from some outside resulting in a net electrokinetic effect.
The common source of all these effects stems from the interfacial double layer of charges. Particles influenced by an external force generate tangential motion of a fluid with respect to an adjacent charged surface. This force may consist of electric, pressure gradient, concentration gradient, gravity. In addition, the moving phase might be either the continuous fluid or dispersed phase.
Sedimentation potential is the field of electrokinetic phenomena dealing with the generation of an electric field by sedimenting colloid particles.