Vibrating Carbon Nanotubes as Water Pumps
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Nanopumps conducting fluids directionally through nanopores and nanochannels have attracted considerable interest for their potential applications in nanofiltration, water purification, and hydroelectric power generation. Here, we demonstrate by molecular dynamics simulations that an excited vibrating carbon nanotube (CNT) cantilever can act as an efficient and simple nanopump. Water molecules inside the vibrating cantilever are driven by centrifugal forces and can undergo a continuous flow from the fixed to free ends of the CNT. Further extensive simulations show that the pumping function holds good not only for a single-file water chain in a narrow (6, 6) CNT, but also for bulk-like water columns inside wider CNTs, and that the water flux increases monotonically with increasing diameter of the nanotube.
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Vibrating Carbon Nanotubes as Water Pumps
)
Abstract
Nanopumps conducting fluids directionally through nanopores and nanochannels have attracted considerable interest for their potential applications in nanofiltration, water purification, and hydroelectric power generation. Here, we demonstrate by molecular dynamics simulations that an excited vibrating carbon nanotube (CNT) cantilever can act as an efficient and simple nanopump. Water molecules inside the vibrating cantilever are driven by centrifugal forces and can undergo a continuous flow from the fixed to free ends of the CNT. Further extensive simulations show that the pumping function holds good not only for a single-file water chain in a narrow (6, 6) CNT, but also for bulk-like water columns inside wider CNTs, and that the water flux increases monotonically with increasing diameter of the nanotube.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the 973 Program (No. 2007CB936204), National and Jiangsu Province National Science Foundation (NSF) (Nos. 10732040, 10802037, 30970557, and BK2008042) of China, and Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Funds (No. BCXJ08-02). The authors thank Drs. Yitao Dai, Chun Tang, and Zhuhua Zhang for helpful discussions.
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