Ion transport and current rectification in a charged conical nanopore filled with viscoelastic fluids

The ionic current rectification (ICR) is a non-linear current-voltage response upon switching the polarity of the potential across nanopore which is similar to the I–V response in the semiconductor diode. The ICR phenomenon finds several potential applications in micro/nano-fluidics (e.g., Bio-sensors and Lab-on-Chip applications). From a biological application viewpoint, most biological fluids (e.g., blood, saliva, mucus, etc.) exhibit non-Newtonian visco-elastic behavior; their rheological properties differ from Newtonian fluids. Therefore, the resultant flow-field should show an additional dependence on the rheological material properties of viscoelastic fluids such as fluid relaxation time \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$(\lambda )$$\end{document}(λ) and fluid extensibility \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$(\varepsilon )$$\end{document}(ε). Despite numerous potential applications, the comprehensive investigation of the viscoelastic behavior of the fluid on ionic concentration profile and ICR phenomena has not been attempted. ICR phenomena occur when the length scale and Debye layer thickness approaches to the same order. Therefore, this work extensively investigates the effect of visco-elasticity on the flow and ionic mass transfer along with the ICR phenomena in a single conical nanopore. The Poisson–Nernst–Planck (P–N–P) model coupled with momentum equations have been solved for a wide range of conditions such as, Deborah number, \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$1\le De \le 100$$\end{document}1≤De≤100, Debye length parameter, \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$1\le \kappa R_t \le 50$$\end{document}1≤κRt≤50, fluid extensibility parameter, \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$0.05\le \varepsilon \le 0.25$$\end{document}0.05≤ε≤0.25, applied electric potential, \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$-40\le V \le 40$$\end{document}-40≤V≤40, and surface charge density \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\sigma = -10$$\end{document}σ=-10 and \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$-50$$\end{document}-50. Limited results for Newtonian fluid (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$De = 0$$\end{document}De=0, and \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\varepsilon = 0$$\end{document}ε=0) have also been shown in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of non-Newtonian fluid behaviour over the Newtonian fluid behaviour. Four distinct novel characteristics of electro-osmotic flow (EOF) in a conical nanopore have been investigated here, namely (1) detailed structure of flow field and velocity distribution in viscoelastic fluids (2) influence of Deborah number and fluid extensibility parameter on ionic current rectification (ICR) (3) volumetric flow rate calculation as a function of Deborah number and fluid extensibility parameter (4) effect of viscoelastic parameters on concentration distribution of ions in the nanopore. At high applied voltage, both the extensibility parameter and Deborah number facilitate the ICR phenomena. In addition, the ICR phenomena are observed to be more pronounced at low values of \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\kappa R_t$$\end{document}κRt than the high values of \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\kappa R_t$$\end{document}κRt. This effect is due to the overlapping of the electric double layer at low values of \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\kappa R_t$$\end{document}κRt.


Problem description
The steady-state electro-osmotic flow of visco-elastic (sPTT) binary electrolyte has been considered in a conical nanopore (Fig. 1a) with a tip Radius R t and axial length H = 200R t and divergent angle 47 α = 1.432 • . The flow field has been considered to be 2-D axi-symmetric. Since the flow, concentration, and potential field have been expected to be symmetric along the θ direction. Therefore, a thin 2D slice of the domain is considered here in r-z co-ordinate frame for the numerical study (Fig. 1b). The nanopore sizes typically range from 2 to 150 nm 48 , and the influences of gravitational force can be neglected in such small size ranges, therefore the gravitational force has been considered to have no effect on flow, concentration, and potential fields. The effect of variation in cone angle has been also discussed in the terms of radial velocity profiles and I vs V curves in this study and the corresponding results (Figs. 7 and 11). Due to the interaction of the negatively charged pore surface and the counter charged (positive) ions, a layer of positively charged ions forms on the charged wall surface, followed by a relatively thick convective layer of counter-charged ions known as the electric double layer (EDL). At the nanopore surface, the positive ions are concentrated near the charged wall, and the co-ions (negative) remain mostly close to the core of the flow. It is also considered that the ionic concentration is very low in the solution (i.e., dilute electrolyte). Therefore, the Boltzmann equilibrium can be considered. EDL thickness is often given by D = 1/κ , which can be scaled by the length scale, R t as κR t . An electric field E is applied in the z-direction by applying a potential bias V across the nanopore. The ICR phenomena occur when the electric double layer overlaps at the tip (convergent end) of the nanopore. The electric double layer does not overlap when κR t is high and consequently, the ion migration does not gets affected by the double layer. Therefore, the ions at the core of the fluid remain solely driven by the applied potential bias. As the value of the κR t decreases (i.e., the thickness of the double layer increases), the ionic current through the pore gets dampened by the resisting forces, arising due to the ionic charge density near the tip of the nanopore. This behavior is analogous with the characteristics of a p-n type electric transistor 26 . Therefore, at a forward potential bias (i.e., the higher potential at the convergent end of the pore), the flow of cations is directed towards the divergent end of the pore. The flow configuration of ions in forward potential bias assures that the double layers do not overlap, and thus the resulting electrical resistance reduces significantly. At the reverse bias, the cations are forced to flow towards the convergent end of the nanopore, and these cations get accumulated at the end of the nanopore due to the overlapped electric double layer. Thus, in order to delineate the effect of the interaction of the electric double layer and applied electric field at the tip of the nanopore, the coupled potential, concentration, and velocity fields are solved using Poisson-Nernst-Planck (P-N-P) model. Governing equations. The flow induced by applied potential difference is given by the equations of continuity and momentum and it is written as follows:  where the space charge density ρ e is defined as: where: z i and c i are the valance and concentration of i th species respectively. The externally applied electric field is expressed in terms of the potential gradient as follows: Similarly, the ionic flux balance across the nanopore is expressed by the Nernst-Planck equation: where The constitutive equation of the sPTT model 49,50 has been given by: where η P is the polymeric viscosity coefficient, is the relaxation time of the viscoelastic fluid and D = (∇u T + ∇u)/2 is the rate of deformation tensor, the f (τ kk ) is called the stress coefficient and can be defined as: where, τ kk denotes the trace of the extra stress tensor and ε is known as the PTT parameter. It governs the extensibility and elongation property of the PTT fluid 49,50 . The ∇ τ is the upper convective derivative of the polymeric tensor and can be defined as: Eqs. (1-7) have been rendered dimensionless using the corresponding scaling variables as listed in Table 1. They are written in their respective dimensionless forms as follows: Dimensionless constitutive equation of the sPTT fluids (i.e., Eqs. 8-10) can be written as follows: where u * , p * , τ * and ψ * are the dimensionless velocity, pressure, the polymeric tensor, and electric potential respectively.
Here De is the Deborah number and it is defined as, The migration of ions, in turn leads to the flow of electrical current in the nanopore, thus the surface average current across the nanopore is written as follows: The dimensionless surface charge density is defined as 51 : The boundary conditions are given below.
• At the boundary (1) A uniform pressure (i.e., p * = 0 ) with zero stress and fixed potential V * is imposed and ionic concentration is fixed as '1' .

• At the boundary (2)
The gradients of potential and concentration are zero and the slip condition for velocity has been imposed.

• At the boundary (3)
Similarly, the gradients of potential and concentration are zero and no-slip velocity condition at the surface is applied.
• At the boundary (4) The no-slip velocity condition at the surface with zero concentration gradient is considered and a fixed surface charge density σ has been imposed, which has been expressed in terms of fixed applied potential ψ o by Eq. (19).

• At the boundary (5)
A uniform pressure (i.e., p * = 0 ) with zero stress and electric potential is fixed as zero (ground) and ionic concentration is fixed as ' C o * ' .
• At the boundary (6) For velocity, concentration and potential fields axi-symmetric boundary condition has been imposed.

Results and discussion
Validation. In order to ascertain the accuracy and precision of the numerical results, it is imperative to perform a few benchmark comparisons. Therefore, the chosen numerical scheme (see the supporting information) has been thoroughly scrutinized by comparing the present results with established experimental 19 , analytical 17 , and numerical 18 studies. A scant number of theoretical findings 16,17,30,40,52,53 are available on the electro-osmotic flow. The potential profile for a non-convective flow of binary electrolyte (KCl) over a charged surface has been compared with analytical solution (Eq. 21) derived by the Gouy-Chapman theory 17,54 for two values of bulk ionic concentration, C o of 1 mM and 100 mM and a fixed surface charge density of σ = −0.001C/m 3 (see Fig. 2).
where x represents distance along the charged wall; K = S/ 2 + 4 + S 2 1/2 and S = − ezσ/(k B Tε) . The results from the applied numerical schemes are validated with the analytical solutions with an excellent n · ∇ * .u * = 0, n · ∇ * .ψ * = 0, n · ∇ * .c i * = 0.  19 ). Thus, the current numerical settings are used to perform extensive numerical simulations, and the resultant velocity, potential, and concentration fields are further derived in terms of velocity contours, streamlines and the velocity profiles, volumetric flow rate, average concentration profiles, and profiles of applied potential with net ionic current passing through the nanopore in terms of the Debye length ( κR t ), Deborah number (De), sPTT extensibility parameter ( ε ), applied potential difference (V) and the surface charge density ( σ).

Streamlines and the velocity contours. The velocity magnitude contours and streamlines demonstrate
the features of the flow, such as the spatial variations in velocity distribution and flow field developments with the varying governing parameters. The electro-osmotic force bears a positive dependence on the bulk concentration. Thus, it is expected that the flow field may intensify with the bulk concentration. Similarly, the applied potential difference also strengthens the volumetric electro-osmotic force 55 , and again it can be speculated that the higher the applied potential difference, the stronger the flow fields. In the EOF, the velocity and stress fields depend upon both the rheological as well as the electrochemical properties of the fluid, i.e., the density, viscosity, the applied electric potential, the surface charge density on the wall, and the bulk ionic concentration. For instance, stability criteria for the flow of viscoelastic Oldroyd-B fluid in a microchannel depends on the bulk electrolyte concentration as well as the applied potential Ji et al. 56 . The further discussion over the flow field in EOF of viscoelastic fluids is limited by a few scarce studies 42,44,45 . These studies include some bounded insights to the viscoelastic flow behavior for flow in microchannel/microtube for few specific sets of governing variables, e.g., bulk concentration, applied potential etc., and the properties and characteristics of viscoelastic EOF have not yet been comprehensively studied for a conical nanopore with a given surface charge. www.nature.com/scientificreports/ Furthermore, the rheological behavior of viscoelastic sPTT fluids depends upon dimensionless relaxation time, De and extensibility parameter, ε 49,50 . Therefore, it is important to inspect and investigate the streamlines and velocity contours to visualize the developments in the flow field with the varying governing parameters. Figure S1 (see the supporting information) and Fig. 5 present the streamlines and the dimensionless velocity contours considering two extreme values of κR t and different values of ε for V = 40 , σ = −50 and De = 1 and De = 100 respectively. It can be deduced from these plots that in EOF with smaller relaxation time, i.e., De = 1 (Fig. S1), and for thin Debye length, i.e., κR t = 50 , the effective fluid viscosity near the nanopore wall diminishes as the fluid extensibility ( ε ) increases. Thus, the magnitude of the velocity field strengthens with the increase in the value of ε . In other words, fluid extensibility decreases the effective viscosity, which mimics the so-called shear-thinning nature of the fluid. Therefore, it is concluded that the overall velocity magnitude increases with the extensibility of viscoelastic (sPTT) fluids. At the highest Debye length (i.e., κR t = 1 ), a thick electric double layer forms adjacent to the wall. This electric double layer overlaps and engulfs the flow area at the convergent end of the nanopore (i.e. nanopore tip), and thus, the flow is expected to be constricted. Therefore, the velocity magnitude near the walls is observed to be weaker than that of the core of the flow. The overlap of the electric double layer gives rise to a low shear region, and therefore the influence of fluid extensibility ( ε ) on the flow field is observed to be negligible in this limit. In other words, the ε has little to no influence on the flow field at such low values of κR t (i.e., κR t = 1) and De (i.e., De = 1 ) at the nanopore tip. Essentially, the rheological parameters i.e. the Deborah number De, the sPTT extensibility parameter ε and the Debye length κR t exhibit a positive influence over the spatial flow distribution.
Volumetric flow rate: effect of De, ε and κR t . From the discussion of the velocity field contours inside the conical nanopore presented in the previous section, it could be inferred that, the overlapping of the electric double layer at the convergent end (the tip) of the nanopore affects the momentum flux through the nanopore 45,52,57 . The insights about the characteristics of the flow field in EOF for a micro-channel/micro or nanopore can also be visualized by the corresponding radial velocity profiles as presented in Figs. 6 and 7. The velocity profiles in a 2D micro-geometry (micro-channel/nozzle) has been investigated in terms of the Debye length, κR t , Deborah number, De, cone angle, α and rheological constraints by several numerical studies, such as Bezerra et al. 58 , Chen et al. 45 , Mei et al. 44 , and Tseng et al. 47 as well as analytical studies e.g. Afonso et al. 52,57 and Wang et al. 43 .
As discussed in previous section, the Debye parameter, κR t and Deborah number, De exhibit a positive influence on the flow field. In other words, an increase in κR t and De increases the average and maximum velocity. Therefore, the radial velocity profiles at the tip of the nanopore are shown in Fig. 6 Fig. 6 can be illustrated as follows: the velocity profile of Newtonian fluids has been found to be a lower than that of a visco-elastic fluid. The difference between the maximum velocity profile of the Newtonian fluid and for the fluid with the lowest relaxation time and PTT parameter is found to be proportional to the Debye length and varies roughly from 20% to 700% as Debye length is varied from highest value (i.e. κR t = 1) to the lowest value ( κR t = 50). Furthermore moving towards the purely visco-elastic behaviour, as for the lowest Deborah number, i.e., De = 1 and for the highest Debye length ( κR t = 1 ), the velocity profile corresponds to the different values of ε overlap to each other at the nanopore tip. This effect suggests that the fluid extensibility ( ε ) has a negligible effect on the velocity field. Upon gradual reduction in Debye length, the value of the parameter κR t increases. The maximum velocity shows a positive dependence on the value of κR t , for a given value of ε . In brief, the lower the thickness of the electric double layer, the higher the maximum velocity. In addition, the influence of the fluid extensibility on κR t ( ε ) also reflects in the flow field and the maximum velocity, it increases by ≈ 170% for κR t = 10 and by ≈ 470% for κR t = 50 as the value of ε varies from 0.05 to 0.25. This clearly suggests a significant influence of the value of ε on the maximum velocity at a smaller Debye length. For a fixed value of ε , the velocity distribution across the nanopore gradually shifts from a parabolic-like profile to the plug-like profile upon increasing De (Fig. 5) and κR t as shown in Fig. 6. Clearly, the proportion of the solidlike behavior increases with the Deborah number, and thus the flow at the center of the nanopore behaves like a plug while the fluid-like response is seen towards the wall with a steep velocity gradient. Similarly, the thinner electric double layer also gives rise to a plug-like velocity profile, irrespective of Deborah number. This is simply because of the low flow resistance for the migration of ions outside the electric double layer. At De = 100 , the effect of ε 45 on the resultant velocity profiles is significant even at κR t = 1 . Furthermore, the maximum velocity exhibits a similar dependence on the values of ε and κR t , as illustrated before. Precisely, the maximum velocity is observed to enhance with the value of ε by ≈ 300% for κR t = 10 and by ≈ 2000% for κR t = 50 . All in all, it has been observed that the momentum flux near the nanopore wall enhances more profoundly with the PTT parameter, ε than with the variation of the Debye parameter, κR t . In summary, it is concluded that the fluid extensibility ( ε ) and the Deborah number (De) strengthen the flow field (Fig. 5), while the value of κR t and σ controls the thickness of the electric double layer in the nanopore. Furthermore, It has been reported that the average velocity varies linearly with the applied electric potential and exhibits an inverse dependence on the polymeric viscosity 56 . Furthermore, in a conical nanopore, an increase in the cone angle accompanies the increase in the associated flow area. Also, the body force exerted on the fluid by the applied potential bias is proportional to the flow area. Thereby, suggesting the corresponding trends of velocity, concentration and ionic current profiles with www.nature.com/scientificreports/ respect to the variation in the cone angle. Tseng et al. 47 have discussed the effect of the cone angle on the velocity as well as the concentration fields.They have demonstrated that, for a fixed charge density and the applied voltage, as the cone angle increases, the velocity field and ionic current within the nanopore intensifies whereas the average cation concentration depletes. Therefore, the variation in the cone angle has been analysed for four successively increasing values of α , starting from 1.432 o and upto 5.728 • . Figure 7 presents the radialvelocity profile variation with the cone angle α , for a fixed applied potential bias ( V = 40 ) and surface charge density ( σ = -50), the maximum Deborah number ( De = 100 ), and two extreme values of the Debye length and PTT parameter. The maximum velocity and therefore the average volumetric flow rate is found to be positively dependent on the cone angle. As the cone angle, α increases from 1.432 • to 5.728 • , for lowest value of κR t or the highest Debye length, the corresponding results show an 88.46% increase in the maximum velocity for ε = 0.05 and an 91.23%  Fig. 8. Similar to the discussion given for the radial velocity profiles, the dimensionless volumetric flow rate, Q is found to positively correlate with the value of the κR t and De. Also, the volumetric flow rate monotonically increases with the value of ε . Furthermore, the increase in the flow rate is observed to be more pronounced at De = 100 than that at De = 1 , at ε >= 0.17 . In summary, the volumetric flow rate shows a positive correlation with the κR t , De, and ε.These trends are in line with results reported for the straight channel by Ji et al. 56 . It is also to be noted that the average velocity varies linearly with the applied electric potential and exhibits an inverse dependence on the polymeric viscosity.
Concentration distribution: effect of κR t , De and ε. The axial concentration distribution provides useful insights into the EOF phenomena in a conical shape nanopore. In the absence of elastic effects (i.e., De = 0) 16,18,22,23,55 increasing the applied potential increases the concentration of ions near the nanopore tip. The maximum in the concentration profile occurs near the nanopore tip, and it increases with the increasing electro-negativity of the cation of salt. The pH of the medium also exhibits an aiding effect on the concentration distribution. Figure 9, represent the variation of the average ionic concentration for the anions and cations along the length of nanopore, for two values of Debye length parameter (i.e., κR t = 1 and 50), the extreme values of Deborah number (De), V = 40 and for a fixed surface charge density σ = −50 . The results corresponding to the Newtonian fluids have also been added for the sake of comparison in the enhancement in the concentration distribution by the viscoelastic fluids over the Newtonian fluids. It has been observed that at the Highest value of Debye length (i.e. κR t ), difference between the concentration profiles of Newtonian and the visco elastic fluid is almost negligible, thus all the plots appear to merge into one curve. Whereas, an augmentation of 16% has been observed for the Newtonian fluid for κR t = 50 in comparison with the visco-elastic fluids. Since an electric double layer exists near the negatively charged pore surface, cations in the electrolyte migrate under the electrostatic force due to the charged nanopore wall. In contrast, the anions migrate away from the wall and merge with the bulk flow towards the nanopore tip. Therefore, the average anion concentration is found to be maximum near the tip of the nanopore and gradually decreases towards the base of the nanopore. Since the radius of the base end of the nanopore is significantly larger than the Debye length (i.e., κR t ), thus the local electric double layer does not interact at the base. The overlapping phenomenon of the double layer is only relevant at the convergent end of the nanopore (i.e., the tip of the nanopore). At De = 1 (see Fig. 9a), for κR t = 1 , the value of ε has no effect on the the dimensionless anion or cation concentration profiles. On the other hand, at κR t = 50 , which mimics the lowest Debye length, the flow resistance is expected to be much smaller than that at κR t = 1 . At De = 1 , the migration of anion and cation towards the surface of the nanopore and the nanopore core is facilitated by the EOF and found to be moderately influenced as the value of ε increases. Also, the effect of the extensibility parameter (i.e., ε ) is significantly visible at De = 100 (Fig. 9b), since there are much sharper velocity gradients near the wall compared to the case at De = 1 . Precisely, the ionic concentration distribution of both cations and anions is found to be maximum at the tip of the nanopore and decline towards the nanopore base. Moreover, the ionic concentration distribution is found to be invariant with the ε and De at κR t = 1 . While variations with ε are observed at κR t = 100 . The concentration profile flattens with an increase in the value of ε . On the other hand, De exhibits an inverse dependence on the concentration distribution at κR t = 50 . In a nutshell, it has been found that at high values of Debye length, i.e., κR t = 1 , relatively lower concentration gradients observed at the tip of the conical nanopore for both the anions and cations, indicating the retarding of the ionic mass transport Viscoelastic effect on ICR and CRR . The total ionic flux in EOF constitutes three components: the convective, the diffusive, and the electro-osmotic flux, respectively. The total ionic flux is integrated across the area of the nanopore tip and quantified as the total ionic current through a nanopore. The corresponding definition is expressed by Eq. 18. To the date 16,18,22,23,55 the ICR phenomena and its characteristics are investigated in terms of the governing parameters such as the bulk ionic concentration 15,16,18,23,59 , C o , the surface charge density 22,30 , σ , salt type 55 and the pH of the electrolyte 11 . All in all, it is reported that the ICR phenomena accentuate with the increasing value of pH, σ , C o , and the electronegativity of the salt cation. Here we have demonstrated the individual and/or combined effects of the Deborah number De, the PTT parameter ε , the Debye length κR t and the surface charge density σ on the ICR phenomena, the total ionic current through the nanopore has been plotted against the corresponding applied potential bias V as I vs V graphs. Figure 10 shows the current vs potential relationship for two extreme values of the Deborah number ( De = 1 and 100), and two values of surface charge density ( σ = -10 and -50), at a fixed Debye length ( κR t = 50 ) and for scores of values of ε . These figures also incorporate the ionic current values for Newtonian fluids and it has been observed that Newtonian fluids correspond to the lowest ionic current in the nanopore and the ionic current shows the least rectification (ICR) in the case of Newtonian fluids. The ionic current is found to vary with the applied potential monotonically. The ionic current increases with the value of ε . At a low Deborah number (i.e., De = 1 ) (Fig. 10a), the surface charge density, σ has a negligible influence on the ionic current. Thus it is concluded that σ does not have a significant influence on the ICR at De = 1 . While, as the value of De increases, it intensifies the flow rate, which, in turn, augments the rate of total ionic flux. Moreover, the surface charge density, σ demonstrates a positive dependence on the ICR phenomena at a higher Deborah number ( De = 100 ) (Fig. 10b). This effect is similar to the reported results on ICR in the absence of elastic effects. Figure 11 demonstrates www.nature.com/scientificreports/ shown to be more pronounced at ε = 0.25 than at ε = 0.05, suggesting that the PTT parameter has a significant influence on ionic current and the rectification phenomena at elevated cone angle. Figure 12 shows the variation of the current rectification ratio (CRR) 22 with the extensibility parameter ( ε ). The CRR is defined as the ratio of the value of ionic current for the forward and backward potential bias of the same magnitude. The resulting trends are observed to agree with the previous discussion on the velocity field. The CRR demonstrates a positive dependence on the extensibility parameter (i.e., ε ), the Deborah number, De, the surface charge density, σ , and the applied potential bias V. In addition, an increase of 30% in the CRR value has been observed as the ε varies from its lowest to its highest value for a maximum value of V, De and σ . Figure 13 and Figure S2 demonstrate the I-V curves to delineate the effect of κR t and De respectively. Figure 13 shows the influence of the Debye length ( κR t ) on the ICR behavior of the nanopore, for two extreme values of the value of ε and the value of σ and a given fixed value of Deborah number De = 100 . Evidently, the ionic current rectification is facilitated by the decreasing value of κR t or the increasing value of the Debye length. As noted earlier, at a low value of κR t , overlapping of  www.nature.com/scientificreports/ the electric double layers occurs at the tip of the conical nanopore. Thus, it can be deduced that the ICR is higher for the lower values of κR t (Fig. 13a). As it can be observed from Figure S2 (see the supporting information), the effect of the De is only found to be significant for ε = 0.25 and σ = −50 (Fig. S2b) for a given value of κR t = 50 . The ICR is found to be enhanced with the increasing values of ε and σ.

Conclusions
The flow of viscoelastic sPTT fluids through a conical nanopore has been numerically analyzed for following ranges of conditions: 1 ≤ De ≤ 100 , 1 ≤ κR ≤ 50 , 0.05 ≤ ε ≤ 0.25 , −40 ≤ V ≤ 40 , and σ = −10 and −50 . The P-N-P model has been used to couple the velocity, concentration, and potential fields, and the numerical results have been delineated in terms of streamlines and velocity contours, radial velocity profiles, volumetric flow rate, surface averaged concentration profiles, and ionic current with the applied potential and current rectification ratio plots. The following conclusions are derived from the present results.
• At a low value of κR t (i.e.,κR t = 1 ), the Debye length is comparable to the radius of the nanopore tip, and the electric double layer overlaps at the tip of the nanopore. Under these conditions, the electrostatic force between ions and the charged surface becomes stronger than the electro-osmotic force. Therefore, fluid rheology has little to no influence on the flow field, the concentration, and the potential field. • The flow extensibility parameter exhibits a positive dependence on the velocity, concentration, and potential field. The flow extensibility parameter offers a shear-thinning-like behavior where the effective viscosity decreases with the increased flow extensibility parameter. This, in turn, leads to enhanced momentum and ion transport across the nanopore in comparison to the respective Newtonian fluid behaviour. • Deborah number (De) increases the contribution of solid-like behavior. Thus, the plug-like velocity profile across the nanopore increases with the Deborah number accompanied by high-velocity gradients near the nanopore wall. • The ionic current through the nanopore is found to be proportional to extensibility parameter ( ε ), surface charge density ( σ ), the Deborah number (De) and applied potential bias V, while it exhibits an inverse dependence on the κR t , Such inverse trend is attributed to the fact that at high values of κR t there is no overlap of the electric double layer at the tip of the nanopore. Moreover, the cone angle ( α ) also exhibits a positive influence over the radial velocity and values of ionic current. • The CRR is the measure of the extent of current rectification. It has been found to increase with the increase in PTT parameter (i.e., ε ), surface charge density, the Deborah number, and the applied potential.