The concept of entropic rectifier facing experiments

The transport of molecules in confined media is subject to entropic barriers. So theoretically, asymmetry of the confinement length may lead to molecular ratchets with entropy as the only driving force for the biased transport. We address experimentally this question by performing alternative ionic...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inScientific reports Vol. 6; no. 1; p. 38966
Main Authors Lairez, D., Clochard, M.-C., Wegrowe, J.-E.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Nature Publishing Group UK 12.12.2016
Nature Publishing Group
Subjects
639/766/94
639/925/927/1058
Acids
Anions
Asymmetry
Cations
Chemical Sciences
Electrolytes
Entropy
Etching
Experiments
Humanities and Social Sciences
Membranes
multidisciplinary
Polymers
Scanning electron microscopy
Science
Voltammetry
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The transport of molecules in confined media is subject to entropic barriers. So theoretically, asymmetry of the confinement length may lead to molecular ratchets with entropy as the only driving force for the biased transport. We address experimentally this question by performing alternative ionic current measurements on electrolytes confined in neutral conical nanopores. In case anions and cations widely differ in size, we show that rectification of ionic current can be obtained that depends on ions size and cycle frequency, consistently with the entropic ratchet mechanism.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
content type line 23
PMCID: PMC5150574
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/srep38966