Abstract: Nanofluidic transport regime, where ions and molecules move through highly confined channels with molecular-scale dimensions, is important for many applications at the waterenergy nexus and beyond. Living systems have mastered nanofluidic transport: they move ions and small molecules across biological membranes using protein pores that rely on nanoscale confinement effects to achieve exquisite selectivity and efficiency. I will show that carbon nanotube porins—pore channels formed by ultra-short carbon nanotubes assembled in a lipid membrane matrix—can exploit similar physical principles to transport water, protons, and ions with efficiency that rivals and sometimes exceeds that of biological channels. I will discuss the role of molecular confinement and slip flow in these pores and show how it can enhance water and proton transport efficiency and influence the molecular mechanisms of ion diffusion and ion selectivity. I will also discuss how the physical and electronic properties of the channel walls can influence transport in the nanofluidic regime. Overall, nanotube porins represent simple, precise, and versatile model membrane pores that can be ideal for building the next generation of separation technologies.
Bio: Alex Noy is a Senior Research Scientist at the Materials Science Division at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). He joined LLNL in 1998 as its first E.O. Lawrence Fellow after getting his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Harvard University and became an Indefinite Career Staff Scientist in 2001. His research group works at the intersection of nanoscience, biomaterials, and bioengineering. The current research portfolio in the Noy group centers on nanofluidics and transport in highly confined environments of nanotube pores, precision separations in other nanomaterials platforms, and on neuromorphic ionic computing. Since 2005 Noy has also been an Adjunct Professor at the University of California Merced. He is an MRS Fellow.