Ionic transport through a charged nanopore at low ion concentration is governed by the surface conductance. Several experiments have reported various power-law relations between the surface conductance and ion concentration, i.e., G surf ∝ c 0 α. However, the physical origin of the varying exponent, α, is not yet clearly understood. By performing extensive coarse-grained Molecular Dynamics simulations for various pore diameters, lengths, and surface charge densities, we observe varying power-law exponents even with a constant surface charge and show that α depends on how electrically “perfect” the nanopore is. Specifically, when the net charge of the solution in the pore is insufficient to ensure electroneutrality, the pore is electrically “imperfect” and such nanopores can exhibit varying α depending on the degree of “imperfectness”. We present an ionic conductance theory for electrically “imperfect” nanopores that not only explains the various power-law relationships but also describes most of the experimental data available in the literature.

Pressure-modulated ion transport through single graphene nanopores reveals a nonlinear electrohydrodynamic coupling phenomenon.

Water purification using 2D nanoporous membranes has been drawing significant attention for over a decade because of fast water transport in ultrathin membranes. We perform a comprehensive study using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations on water desalination using 2D flexible membranes where the coupling between the fluid dynamics and mechanics of the membrane plays an important role. We observe that a considerable deformation and fluctuation in the 2D membrane results in an enhanced water permeability (up to 122%) along with a slight decrease in the salt rejection rate (less than 11%). Simulations on harmonically vibrating membranes indicate that the vibrational match at the membrane–water interface can significantly increase the permeance. We conduct mechanical stability tests and discuss the maximum endurable pressure of 2D porous membranes for water desalination. These findings will contribute to advances in applications using ultrathin membranes, such as energy harvesting and molecular separation.

At the molecular scale, the definition of solid/fluid boundary is ambiguous since its defining precision is comparable to the size of the electron orbitals. It is important to figure out the sub-atomic-level solid/fluid boundary as the definition of the solid/fluid interface is related to estimating various properties such as slip length, Kapitza resistance, confined volume, thermodynamic properties, and material properties. In this work, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were conducted to show the effects of the solid/fluid boundary on estimating thermodynamic properties. Our results reveal that the different definitions of solid/fluid boundary can cause a considerable impact on quantitative analysis and even qualitative analysis of a nanoscale system. The solid/fluid boundary for Lennard-Jones atoms is determined within sub-atomic precision via heat transfer MD simulations and microscopic heat flux relation. The result shows that solid/fluid boundary is slightly shifted to the fluid regime as the temperature increase. We suggested a mathematical expression of solid/fluid boundary of LJ atom that is theoretically estimated by ignoring the thermal vibration. The results presented in this work are expected to improve the accuracy of analyzing nanoscale phenomena as well as the continuum-based models for nanoscale heat and mass transport.

The unique properties of aqueous electrolytes in ultrathin nanopores have drawn a great deal of attention in a variety of applications, such as power generation, water desalination, and disease diagnosis. Inside the nanopore, at the interface, properties of ions differ from those predicted by the classical ionic layering models (e.g., Gouy–Chapman electric double layer) when the thickness of the nanopore approaches the size of a single atom (e.g., nanopores in a single-layer graphene membrane). Here, using extensive molecular dynamics simulations, the structure and dynamics of aqueous ions inside nanopores are studied for different thicknesses, diameters, and surface charge densities of carbon-based nanopores [ultrathin graphene and finite-thickness carbon nanotubes (CNTs)]. The ion concentration and diffusion coefficient in ultrathin nanopores show no indication of the formation of a Stern layer (an immobile counter-ionic layer) as the counter-ions and nanopore atoms are weakly correlated in time compared to the strong correlation observed in thick nanopores. The weak correlation observed in ultrathin nanopores is indicative of a weak adsorption of counter-ions onto the surface compared to that of thick pores. The vanishing counter-ion adsorption (ion–wall correlation) in ultrathin nanopores leads to several orders of magnitude shorter ionic residence times (picoseconds) compared to the residence times in thick CNTs (seconds). The results of this study will help better understand the structure and dynamics of aqueous ions in ultrathin nanopores.