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Effects of Non-Uniform Occupancy on Selective Transport Through Nanochannels

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Abstract

By using an exclusion model, in this work we address how the non-uniform occupancy of a nanochannel, for a limited set of conditions, is related to the transport of specific molecules through it. The results show that the shape of a channel greatly influences its transporting behavior and therefore, it can be used as a tunable parameter to achieve a desired set of transporting conditions. In particular, we have found that for applications which require a highly selective channel that is able to handle large input fluxes of specific particles in both directions, a double-funnel architecture is the best suited. As the obtained results mainly arise from the competition of particles for limited space, we expect them to be applicable to a great variety of transporting phenomena where the channel has a limited number of interacting sites with the transported particles.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by UNAM-DGAPA-PAPIIT IN106714. H.T. acknowledges the scholarship from CONACyT (Mexico). Computing resources from the Supercomputing Department of DGTIC-UNAM were given through project SC14-1-I-49.

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  1. Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 20-364, 01000, Mexico, D.F., México

    Heinrich Terborg & Luis A. Pérez

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  1. Heinrich Terborg
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  2. Luis A. Pérez
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Correspondence to Luis A. Pérez.

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Terborg, H., Pérez, L.A. Effects of Non-Uniform Occupancy on Selective Transport Through Nanochannels. J Stat Phys 158, 494–512 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10955-014-1132-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10955-014-1132-6

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