title: Ionic capillary evaporation in weakly charged nanopores.
abstract: Using a variational field theory, we show that an electrolyte confined to a neutral cylindrical nanopore traversing a low dielectric membrane exhibits a first-order ionic liquid-vapor pseudo-phase-transition from an ionic-penetration "liquid" phase to an ionic-exclusion "vapor" phase, controlled by nanopore-modified ionic correlations and dielectric repulsion. For weakly charged nanopores, this pseudotransition survives and may shed light on the mechanism behind the rapid switching of nanopore conductivity observed in experiments.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique Théorique-IRSAMC, CNRS and Université de Toulouse, UPS, F-31062 Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Sahin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Buyukdagli
authors.forename: Manoel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manghi
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Palmeri
mesh_terms: D004573:Electrolytes / Q000737:chemistry; D007477:Ions; D058608:Nanopores; D055672:Static Electricity; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D004573:Electrolytes; D007477:Ions