Pumping of water through carbon nanotubes by rotating electric field and rotating magnetic field

Abstract

Using molecular dynamics simulations, we demonstrate pumping of water through a carbon nanotube by applying the combination of a rotating electric field and a rotating magnetic field. The driving force is a Lorentz force generated from the motion of charges in the magnetic field, and the motion is caused by the rotation of the electric field. We find that there exits a linear relationship between the average pumping velocity v and magnetic field strength B, which can be used to control the flux of the continuous unidirectional water flow. This approach is expected to be used in liquid circulation without a pressure gradient.

Fast water channeling across carbon nanotubes in far infrared terahertz electric fields

“…In this work, we take the amplitude of the EF E 0 = 1V/nm 27,52 along the x-axis, unless otherwise denoted, and consider the frequencies ranging from 0.1 to 40 THz. Hereafter, these far infrared EFs are still dubbed the TEF, since the interesting results lie below the region over a dozen THz.…”

“…Besides the biological implications in these studies, the stream of these novel progresses may potentially become integrated into the application pool for the design of innovative nanofluidic devices, such as flow sensors 18 , desalination of seawater 19 , molecular sieves 20 , and so on. Recently, broad interest has been aroused to study the electric field (EF) effects on the water permeation [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] . It is known that the applied EF can stem from electromagnetic radiations.…”

Directional transport of molecular mass on graphene by straining

“…External mechanical, electrical or magnetic excitations have been shown to induce directional motion of molecular mass [2,[7][8][9][10]. For example, an excited vibrating carbon nanotube cantilever can act as an efficient and simple nanopump [7].…”

Kinetic mechanism for water in vibrating carbon nanotubes

“…Nonequilibrium vibrations due to active driving forces may also play a nontrivial role in nanoscale systems and affect the transport properties of biological channels [33][34][35]. In the presence of active energy sources, the dynamic behavior of water confined in CNTs has been simulated in recent years [36][37][38][39][40][41]. Active transport of gas [36] and water [39] molecules through vibrating carbon nanotubes has been reported.…”