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ELECTROSTATIC MODULATION

Moving ions confined between graphene sheets

Nature Nanotechnology volume 13, pages 625–627 (2018)Cite this article

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Permeation experiments and simulations show that the ion diffusion rate in confinement can be reversibly modulated and significantly enhanced with a potential of less than 0.5 V.

What is common in the function of cellular membranes, batteries and water desalination membranes? They all depend on the control of ion transport in confined nanopores. Electric fields arising from either a surface charge or externally applied voltage can strongly affect diffusion of ions. State-of-the-art technologies such as capacitive deionization, salinity gradient energy harvesting, electrochemical capacitors and field-effect transistors with gate dielectrics of ionic liquids that rely on the flow of ions can be mediated by an applied electric potential. To understand and control ionic transport is of high importance fundamentally and for many applications such as those listed above. However, recent studies have demonstrated unusual phenomena that are inexplicable by conventional theory1, such as ultra-dense packing of ions, drastic changes in diffusion coefficients (both increase and decrease were observed), and even partial breaking of Coulomb’s law that may occur when ions are confined in nanometre-wide spaces. Now, writing in Nature Nanotechnology, Cheng at al. use graphene-based membranes to study transport of ions through two-dimensional (2D) channels using low-voltage electrostatic modulation2. The researchers investigated tunable nanoconfinement of ions between graphene sheets to understand how ion diffusion responds to an applied potential.

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Fig. 1: Schematic illustration of ion gating in a membrane built of conductive 2D nanosheets.

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  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Yury Gogotsi

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  1. Yury Gogotsi
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Correspondence to Yury Gogotsi.

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Gogotsi, Y. Moving ions confined between graphene sheets. Nature Nanotech 13, 625–627 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-018-0237-5

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