Effect of axial electric field on confined water in carbon nanotube: Enhancement of thermophoresis

H Dang and DX Song and ZZ Lin and M An and WG Ma and X Zhang, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER, 190, 122751 (2022).

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2022.122751

Strengthening the thermophoresis of nanoscale confined liquid is an intrinsic topic in nanoscale devices and systems. Unfortunately, enhancing thermophoresis via an uncontacted way is still ambiguous, while is quite desirable in technology. In this work, we propose a feasible strategy to enhance the thermophoresis of confined nano-liquid via using external electric field. Moreover, this strategy is demonstrated by a striking case, namely the electric field-intensified thermophoresis of the confined nano-liquid within carbon nanotube, with the aid of molecular dynamics simulation. The interfacial water molecules undergo a configuration transition from the disorder-like to the ordered network-like under the directional electric field-induced hydrogen bond interactions. As a result, the thermophoresis depicts a regular movement under electric field and the velocity increase as high as 99% is also achieved. This work illustrates a great promising potential in seawater desalination, cellular uptake and drug carrier, and nanofiltration membranes.(c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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