Charged Nanoparticle Transport in Polymer-Grafted Nanochannels |
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Authors: | He Sun Siliang Ma Yuan Yuan Qianqian Cao |
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Institution: | 1. Institute of Mathematics, Jilin University , Changchun , Jilin , China;2. Center for Simulational Physics, The University of Georgia , Athens , Georgia , USA |
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Abstract: | Molecular dynamics simulations were used to investigate the electric field-induced migration of nanoparticles in a nanochannel grafted with a polymer brush. The distribution of nanoparticles, brush monomer density and migration velocity are addressed at different electric field strengths and grafting densities. The increase of the grafting density leads to a decrease of the effective radius of the nanochannel. At high grafting density, the distribution of nanoparticles is shifted significantly towards the center of the channel. Enhancing the electric field leads to a very slight change of brush monomer density. The migration velocity increases with the electric field rapidly at weak electric fields, while a slow increase is observed at strong electric fields. Additionally, it is found that the migration velocity of nanoparticles exhibits a nonlinear dependence on the grafting density. |
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Keywords: | electrokinetic transport molecular dynamics nanochannels nanoparticles polymer brushes |
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