Coupling Charge‐Regulated Interfacial Chemistry to Electrokinetic Ion Transport in Bipolar SiO2‐Al2O3 Nanofluidic Diodes

Abstract Due to the surface‐dominant nature of electrokinetic ion transport in confined geometries, ionic currents in nanofluidic channels are fundamentally governed by the interfacial chemistry of the constituent substrates. In this work, the intrinsic coupling between charge‐regulated oxide surfac...

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Main Authors: Alexander Eden, Sumita Pennathur
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley-VCH 2024-12-01
Series:Advanced Materials Interfaces
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202400495
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author Alexander Eden
Sumita Pennathur
author_facet Alexander Eden
Sumita Pennathur
author_sort Alexander Eden
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Due to the surface‐dominant nature of electrokinetic ion transport in confined geometries, ionic currents in nanofluidic channels are fundamentally governed by the interfacial chemistry of the constituent substrates. In this work, the intrinsic coupling between charge‐regulated oxide surfaces and local changes in concentration and pH induced during the operation of bipolar nanofluidic diodes is numerically explored. Using a heterogeneous SiO2‐Al2O3 nanochannel as a representative example, field‐dependent ion accumulation and depletion effects are shown to have a marked effect on the local surface chemistry and resulting charge density of the amphoteric Al2O3 surface in particular. While the SiO2 surface tends to remain relatively indifferent to the presence of an applied potential due to its low point of zero charge (PZC), the comparatively high PZC of Al2O3 renders it much more susceptible to the extent of ion accumulation and depletion events which drive localized concentration and pH changes. Including this surface coupling in models can be necessary to capture the true behavior of real‐world devices; comparison with a fixed‐charge model demonstrates that only a fully coupled model can quantitatively reproduce reported experimental current measurements in heterogeneous SiO2‐Al2O3 nanochannels, the limiting behavior of which is revealed to stem from this surface‐to‐bulk coupling.
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spelling doaj-art-b8514e7b84a34d8e86ca35f5749c6f512024-12-23T11:32:50ZengWiley-VCHAdvanced Materials Interfaces2196-73502024-12-011135n/an/a10.1002/admi.202400495Coupling Charge‐Regulated Interfacial Chemistry to Electrokinetic Ion Transport in Bipolar SiO2‐Al2O3 Nanofluidic DiodesAlexander Eden0Sumita Pennathur1Department of Mechanical Engineering University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara CA 93106 USADepartment of Mechanical Engineering University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara CA 93106 USAAbstract Due to the surface‐dominant nature of electrokinetic ion transport in confined geometries, ionic currents in nanofluidic channels are fundamentally governed by the interfacial chemistry of the constituent substrates. In this work, the intrinsic coupling between charge‐regulated oxide surfaces and local changes in concentration and pH induced during the operation of bipolar nanofluidic diodes is numerically explored. Using a heterogeneous SiO2‐Al2O3 nanochannel as a representative example, field‐dependent ion accumulation and depletion effects are shown to have a marked effect on the local surface chemistry and resulting charge density of the amphoteric Al2O3 surface in particular. While the SiO2 surface tends to remain relatively indifferent to the presence of an applied potential due to its low point of zero charge (PZC), the comparatively high PZC of Al2O3 renders it much more susceptible to the extent of ion accumulation and depletion events which drive localized concentration and pH changes. Including this surface coupling in models can be necessary to capture the true behavior of real‐world devices; comparison with a fixed‐charge model demonstrates that only a fully coupled model can quantitatively reproduce reported experimental current measurements in heterogeneous SiO2‐Al2O3 nanochannels, the limiting behavior of which is revealed to stem from this surface‐to‐bulk coupling.https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202400495bipolar diodescurrent rectificationelectrokineticsinterfacial chemistrynanofluidicssite‐binding model
spellingShingle Alexander Eden
Sumita Pennathur
Coupling Charge‐Regulated Interfacial Chemistry to Electrokinetic Ion Transport in Bipolar SiO2‐Al2O3 Nanofluidic Diodes
Advanced Materials Interfaces
bipolar diodes
current rectification
electrokinetics
interfacial chemistry
nanofluidics
site‐binding model
title Coupling Charge‐Regulated Interfacial Chemistry to Electrokinetic Ion Transport in Bipolar SiO2‐Al2O3 Nanofluidic Diodes
title_full Coupling Charge‐Regulated Interfacial Chemistry to Electrokinetic Ion Transport in Bipolar SiO2‐Al2O3 Nanofluidic Diodes
title_fullStr Coupling Charge‐Regulated Interfacial Chemistry to Electrokinetic Ion Transport in Bipolar SiO2‐Al2O3 Nanofluidic Diodes
title_full_unstemmed Coupling Charge‐Regulated Interfacial Chemistry to Electrokinetic Ion Transport in Bipolar SiO2‐Al2O3 Nanofluidic Diodes
title_short Coupling Charge‐Regulated Interfacial Chemistry to Electrokinetic Ion Transport in Bipolar SiO2‐Al2O3 Nanofluidic Diodes
title_sort coupling charge regulated interfacial chemistry to electrokinetic ion transport in bipolar sio2 al2o3 nanofluidic diodes
topic bipolar diodes
current rectification
electrokinetics
interfacial chemistry
nanofluidics
site‐binding model
url https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202400495
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AT sumitapennathur couplingchargeregulatedinterfacialchemistrytoelectrokineticiontransportinbipolarsio2al2o3nanofluidicdiodes