Water transport behaviors in a CTT-type nanotube system

K Cai and X Zhou and J Shi and QH Qin, MICROFLUIDICS AND NANOFLUIDICS, 26, 91 (2022).

DOI: 10.1007/s10404-022-02598-0

The shape of a nanochannel significantly affects mass transport. This study provides a new nanochannel model made from a concentric-twin tube (CTT), which can be made by inserting a carbon nanotube (CNT) into another identical CNT. The stable configuration of such a CTT has three subchannels containing different cross-sectional shapes. Molecular dynamic approach is applied to evaluate the transport performances of the confined water in the CTT. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the CTT made from (17,17) CNTs is the thinnest nanochannel for water transport. The three subchannels of a CTT have different linear speeds of water and different volume flow rates depending on the CTT's cross-sectional shapes. Based on these characteristics, a fluid nanodevice requiring special transform performances, e.g., sieving the molecules with different sizes in a solution, can be designed from the new nanochannels.

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