Electro-osmotic flow through nanopores in thin and ultrathin membranes

Melnikov, Dmitriy V.; Hulings, Zachery K.; Gracheva, Maria E.

doi:10.1103/physreve.95.063105

Cited by 40 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Since a chemical potential drop alone cannot induce and solvent flow: J ′ c = Jc 5. This differs from what has been reported for a tracer (see Ref [32]…”

contrasting

confidence: 67%

Driving an electrolyte through a corrugated nanopore

Malgaretti

Janssen

Pagonabarraga

et al. 2019

The Journal of Chemical Physics

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We characterize the dynamics of a z − z electrolyte embedded in a varying-section channel. In the linear response regime, by means of suitable approximations, we derive the Onsager matrix associated to externally enforced gradients in electrostatic potential, chemical potential, and pressure, for both dielectric and conducting channel walls. We show here that the linear transport coefficients are particularly sensitive to the geometry and the conductive properties of the channel walls when the Debye length is comparable to the channel width.In this regime, we found that one pair of off-diagonal Onsager matrix elements increases with the corrugation of the channel transport, in contrast to all other elements which are either unaffected by or decrease with increasing corrugation. Our results have a possible impact on the design of blue-energy devices as well as on the understanding of biological ion channels through membranes

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“…Since a chemical potential drop alone cannot induce and solvent flow: J ′ c = Jc 5. This differs from what has been reported for a tracer (see Ref [32]…”

contrasting

confidence: 67%

Driving an electrolyte through a corrugated nanopore

Malgaretti

Janssen

Pagonabarraga

et al. 2019

The Journal of Chemical Physics

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“…These higher-aspect-ratio pores allow for the fluid flow to fully develop within the pore, which never occurs within a nanomembrane pore in our simulations. In agreement, simulations of electroosmotic flow in nanopores with 1:1 length to diameter ratio have been shown to exhibit non-uniform flows due to flow expansion or contraction at the ends of pores [ 36 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

TEM Tomography of Pores with Application to Computational Nanoscale Flows in Nanoporous Silicon Nitride (NPN)

et al. 2018

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Silicon nanomembrane technologies (NPN, pnc-Si, and others) have been used commercially as electron microscopy (EM) substrates, and as filters with nanometer-resolution size cut-offs. Combined with EM, these materials provide a platform for catching or suspending nanoscale-size structures for analysis. Usefully, the nanomembrane itself can be manufactured to achieve a variety of nanopore topographies. The size, shapes, and surfaces of nanopores will influence transport, fouling, sieving, and electrical behavior. Electron tomography (ET) techniques used to recreate nanoscale-sized structures would provide an excellent way to capture this variation. Therefore, we modified a sample holder to accept our standardized 5.4 mm × 5.4 mm silicon nanomembrane chips and imaged NPN nanomembranes (50–100 nm thick, 10–100 nm nanopore diameters) using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). After imaging and ET reconstruction using a series of freely available tools (ImageJ, TomoJ, SEG3D2, Meshlab), we used COMSOL Multiphysics™ to simulate fluid flow inside a reconstructed nanopore. The results show flow profiles with significantly more complexity than a simple cylindrical model would predict, with regions of stagnation inside the nanopores. We expect that such tomographic reconstructions of ultrathin nanopores will be valuable in elucidating the physics that underlie the many applications of silicon nanomembranes.

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“…108 When a potential is applied that drops along the length of a nanopore, it drives electrophoretic movement of ions in the EDL creating EOF whereby the liquid moves with the ions. [109][110][111] Electroosmotic flow provides an additional force on molecules inside the nanopore, which can either add to the electrophoretic force or point in the opposite direction, depending on the net charge of the molecule and on the polarity of the charges on the nanopore wall. 112,113 In the context of nanopore sensing, it is important to either minimize EOF as much as possible or to keep it constant at a well-defined level in order to analyze and interpret translocation time distributions from the motion of particles or macromolecules through the pore.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%