Rectified and Salt Concentration Dependent Wetting of Hydrophobic Nanopores.

ABSTRACT: Nanopores lined with hydrophobic groups function as switches for water and all dissolved species, such that transport is allowed only when applying a sufficiently high transmembrane pressure difference or voltage. Here we show a hydrophobic nanopore system whose wetting and ability to transport water and ions is rectified and can be controlled with salt concentration. The nanopore we study contains a junction between a hydrophobic zone and a positively charged hydrophilic zone. The nanopore is closed for transport at low salt concentrations and exhibits finite current only when the concentration reaches a threshold value that is dependent on the pore opening diameter, voltage polarity and magnitude, and type of electrolyte. The smallest nanopore studied here had a 4 nm diameter and did not

SUBMITTER: Polster JW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9264351 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature