Ion transport through differently charged nanoporous membranes: from a single nanopore to multi-nanopores

Fuente: arXiv
Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Zhang, Hongwen, Ai, Bowen, Gong, Zekun, Sui, Tianyi, Siwy, Zuzanna S., Qiu, Yinghua
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
Sujets:
Accès en ligne:
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
_version_ 1866909857856094208
author Zhang, Hongwen
Ai, Bowen
Gong, Zekun
Sui, Tianyi
Siwy, Zuzanna S.
Qiu, Yinghua
author_facet Zhang, Hongwen
Ai, Bowen
Gong, Zekun
Sui, Tianyi
Siwy, Zuzanna S.
Qiu, Yinghua
contents Nanoporous membranes, leveraging their high-throughput characteristics, have been widely applied in fields such as molecular separation and energy conversion. Due to interpore interactions, besides the applied voltage and solution environment, the ion transport properties in porous membranes are influenced by the pore number and spacing. Here, to understand and control the transport properties of nanopore arrays, we systematically investigate the ion transport characteristics through membranes with different charge properties, pore numbers, and interpore distances. Using numerical simulations, we analyzed local ionic concentrations and electric potential in nanopore arrays containing nanopores with uniformly charged walls as well as unipolar diodes i.e., pores containing a junction between a charged zone and a neutral zone, and showed significant ion concentration polarization (ICP) for all studied cases. As the number of pores increased and the interpore spacing decreased, the enhanced interpore interactions through ICP led to a greater deviation of the total ionic current from the linear superposition of single-pore currents. Conversely, in bipolar nanopores whose walls contain a junction between positively and negatively charged zones ICP becomes negligible, and interpore interactions are substantially reduced. Furthermore, for membranes with various charge properties, the total current through nanopore arrays presents different quantitative dependence on the pore number under varying pore spacings. Our findings clarify the mechanism of interpore interactions in modulating ion transport through porous membranes, providing critical insights for designing nanofluidic devices based on nanopore arrays, such as nanopore-array sensors.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_17454
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Ion transport through differently charged nanoporous membranes: from a single nanopore to multi-nanopores
Zhang, Hongwen
Ai, Bowen
Gong, Zekun
Sui, Tianyi
Siwy, Zuzanna S.
Qiu, Yinghua
Soft Condensed Matter
Chemical Physics
Nanoporous membranes, leveraging their high-throughput characteristics, have been widely applied in fields such as molecular separation and energy conversion. Due to interpore interactions, besides the applied voltage and solution environment, the ion transport properties in porous membranes are influenced by the pore number and spacing. Here, to understand and control the transport properties of nanopore arrays, we systematically investigate the ion transport characteristics through membranes with different charge properties, pore numbers, and interpore distances. Using numerical simulations, we analyzed local ionic concentrations and electric potential in nanopore arrays containing nanopores with uniformly charged walls as well as unipolar diodes i.e., pores containing a junction between a charged zone and a neutral zone, and showed significant ion concentration polarization (ICP) for all studied cases. As the number of pores increased and the interpore spacing decreased, the enhanced interpore interactions through ICP led to a greater deviation of the total ionic current from the linear superposition of single-pore currents. Conversely, in bipolar nanopores whose walls contain a junction between positively and negatively charged zones ICP becomes negligible, and interpore interactions are substantially reduced. Furthermore, for membranes with various charge properties, the total current through nanopore arrays presents different quantitative dependence on the pore number under varying pore spacings. Our findings clarify the mechanism of interpore interactions in modulating ion transport through porous membranes, providing critical insights for designing nanofluidic devices based on nanopore arrays, such as nanopore-array sensors.
title Ion transport through differently charged nanoporous membranes: from a single nanopore to multi-nanopores
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Chemical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.17454