Water and proton conduction through carbon nanotubes as models for biological channels.
Carbon nanotubes, unmodified (pristine) and modified through charged atoms, were simulated in water, and their water conduction rates determined. The conducted water inside the nanotubes was found to exhibit a strong ordering of its dipole moments. In pristine nanotubes the water dipoles adopt a single orientation along the tube axis with a low flipping rate between the two possible alignments. Modification can induce in nanotubes a bipolar ordering as previously observed in biological water channels. Network thermodynamics was applied to investigate proton conduction through the nanotubes.
Zhu
Fangqiang
F
Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA.
Schulten
Klaus
K
D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D032701:Biomimetics / Q000379:methods*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004058:Diffusion; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D017097:Electric Impedance; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000737:chemistry*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D011522:Protons; D055672:Static Electricity; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
D007473:Ion Channels; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D011522:Protons; D014867:Water