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Campus-46

Can nanofluidic systems be described by a simple electrical circuit?

In this talk, we will address one of the central challenges faced by the nanofluidics community: scaling the electrical properties of a single nanochannel to that of a nanoporous membrane. We demonstrate that the electrical circuit of an array of nanochannels and microchannels is equivalent to a parallel circuit of mutually independent single-channel systems that we term, 'unit-cells'. These unit-cells are formed by an apparent segmentation of common inlet and outlet reservoirs by symmetry planes. Notably, a direct consequence is that the total resistance of an ordered array scales inversely with the number of channels. Further, we will discuss field-focusing resistances, which addresses the shortcomings of the classical access resistance solution (limited to highly isolated circular pores), and is instrumental to our understanding of the electrical behaviour of both single and multi- channel nanofluidic systems. Our approach provides an invaluable tool for analyzing and interpreting experimental measurements, characterising surface charge properties of newly developed materials, and a method for the design and development of function-specific nanofluidic devices.

Speakers

John Sebastian