Transport in one-dimensional Coulomb gases: From ion channels to nanopores

✍ Scribed by A. Kamenev; J. Zhang; A.I. Larkin; B.I. Shklovskii

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 413 KB
• Volume: 359
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0378-4371
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2005.05.097

✦ Synopsis

We consider a class of systems where, due to the large mismatch of dielectric constants, the Coulomb interaction is approximately one-dimensional. Examples include ion channels in lipid membranes and water filled nanopores in silicon films. Charge transport across such systems possesses the activation behavior associated with the large electrostatic self-energy of a charge placed inside the channel. We show here that the activation barrier exhibits non-trivial dependence on the salt concentration in the surrounding water solution and on the length and radius of the channel.