title: Nonstraight nanochannels transfer water faster than straight nanochannels.
abstract: Understanding the flow of liquids and particularly water in nanochannels is important for scientific and technological applications, such as for filtration and drug delivery. Here we perform molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the transfer of single-file water molecules across straight or nonstraight single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). In contrast with the macroscopic scenario, the nonstraight nanostructure can increase the water permeation. Remarkably, compared with the straight SWCNT, the nonstraight SWCNT with the minimal bending angle of 35° in the simulations can enhance the water transport up to 3.5 times. This enhancement mainly originates from the Lennard-Jones interaction between water molecules and nonstraight nanostructures. Our work offers an additional freedom to design high-flux nanochannels by choosing nonstraight nanostructures and provides an insight into water flow across biological water nanochannels, which are often nonstraight since they are composed of integral membrane proteins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University , Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: X W
authors.initials: XW
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D012212:Rheology; D013499:Surface Properties; D013997:Time Factors; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D006108:Graphite