COLLOQUIUM 2024
Nanofluidics in carbon nanotube channels
| Speaker | Alexandr Noy, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory |
| Date/Time | Thursday, 23 May, 3PM |
| Location | Conference room: S11-02-07 |
| Host | Slaven Garaj (Physics), Sui Zhang (ChBE) |
Abstract
Nanofluidic transport regime, where ions and molecules move through highly confined channels with molecular-scale dimensions, is important for many applications at the water-energy 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 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 the mechanism and consequences of coupling between electronic structure of the channel and transport efficiency. Overall, carbon nanotube porins represent simple, precise, and versatile membrane pores that are ideal for building the next generation of separation technologies.
Biography
Alex Noy is a Senior Research Scientist at the Materials Science Division at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. 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 a Career Staff Scientist in 2001. His research group works at the intersection of nanofluidics, biomaterials, and bioengineering. The current research portfolio in the Noy group centers on nanofluidics and transport in highly confined environments of nanotube pores, as well as on precision separations in other nanomaterials platforms. Noy is also serving as an Adjunct Professor at the School of Natural Sciences at the University of California Merced.