Nanofluidics under Extreme Confinement in 1D and 2D Channels

Extreme spatial confinement in narrow fluidic channels strongly influences their transport properties and enables unconventional selectivity mechanisms that can often mimic some of the selectivity and transport characteristics of biological membrane channels. Modern nanomaterials have enabled experimental platforms that can recreate such extreme confinement in a range of 1D and 2D channels with defined geometry and controllable electronic properties. I will discuss several of these nanomaterials-based channel systems and show how confinement phenomena, coupled with the different electronic effects and dynamic charge equilibria in these channels can shape their transport properties and ion selectivity characteristics. Overall, these observations can pave the way for developing a new generation of precision separation platforms for biomedical and industrial use.