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Electrophoretically induced aqueous flow through single-walled carbon nanotube membranes

Nature Nanotechnology volume 7, pages 133–139 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Electrophoresis, the motion of charged species through liquids and pores under the influence of an external electric field, has been the principle source of chemical pumping for numerous micro- and nanofluidic device platforms. Recent measurements of ion currents through single or few carbon nanotube channels have yielded values of ion mobility that range from close to the bulk mobility to values that are two to seven orders of magnitude higher than the bulk mobility. However, these experiments cannot directly measure ion flux. Experiments on membranes that contain a large number of nanotube pores allow the ion current and ion flux to be measured independently. Here, we report that the mobilities of ions within such membranes are approximately three times higher than the bulk mobility. Moreover, the induced electro-osmotic velocities are four orders of magnitude faster than those measured in conventional porous materials. We also show that a nanotube membrane can function as a rectifying diode due to ionic steric effects within the nanotubes.

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Figure 1: Characterization of single-walled carbon nanotubes.
Figure 2: Highly efficient electro-osmotic flow in single-walled carbon nanotubes and the effect of pH.
Figure 3: Effects of ionic concentrations and species, and operation as a rectifying diode.
Figure 4: Operation as a rectifying diode with other ionic species.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank J. Goldsmith, Xin Su and Xin Zhan for constructive discussions. This work was supported by NIDA (5R01DA018822-05) and DARPA (W911NF-09-1-0267). Critical infrastructure was provided by the University of Kentucky Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering. J.L. and H.Z. acknowledge support from Unidym Inc. and the Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (which is funded by the NSF and the EPA under an NSF cooperative agreement (EF-0830093)).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, 40506, Kentucky, USA

    Ji Wu, Karen Gerstandt & Bruce J. Hinds

  2. Department of Chemistry, Duke University, Durham, 27708, North Carolina, USA

    Hongbo Zhang & Jie Liu

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  1. Ji Wu
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  2. Karen Gerstandt
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Contributions

H.Z. synthesized and characterized the single-walled nanotubes. J.W. fabricated the membrane and performed the experiments. K.G. helped to measure the samples using ICP-AES. B.J.H. and J.L. designed and supervised the experiments. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Bruce J. Hinds.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Wu, J., Gerstandt, K., Zhang, H. et al. Electrophoretically induced aqueous flow through single-walled carbon nanotube membranes. Nature Nanotech 7, 133–139 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2011.240

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