Biopolymer filtration in corrugated nanochannels.
We examine pressure-driven nonequilibrium transport of linear, circular, and star polymers through a nanochannel containing a rectangular pit with full hydrodynamic interactions and thermal fluctuations. We demonstrate that with sufficiently small pressure differences, there is contour length-dependent entropic trapping of the polymer in the pit when the pit and the polymer sizes are compatible. This is due to competition between flow and chain relaxation in the pit, which leads to a nonmonotonic dependence of the polymer mobility on its size and should aid in the design of nanofiltration devices based on the polymer size and shape.
COMP Centre of Excellence, Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University School of Science, P.O. Box 11000, FIN-00076 Aalto, Espoo, Finland and Department of Applied Mathematics, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5B8.
Santtu T T
ST
Ollila
Department of Applied Mathematics, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5B8.
Colin
C
Denniston
Department of Applied Mathematics, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5B8 and Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1.
Mikko
M
Karttunen
COMP Centre of Excellence, Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University School of Science, P.O. Box 11000, FIN-00076 Aalto, Espoo, Finland and Department of Physics, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912-1843, USA.
Tapio
T
Ala-Nissila
D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D005374:Filtration / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D010316:Particle Size; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
D001704:Biopolymers