Effects of jamming on non-equilibrium transport times in nano-channels

TL;DR

This paper investigates how crowding affects the transport times of molecules through nano-channels, providing analytical and simulation insights relevant for biological and artificial nano-sorting systems.

Contribution

It offers a novel analytical and computational analysis of crowding effects on non-equilibrium transport in finite nano-channels.

Findings

Crowding increases transport times significantly.

Analytical models match simulation results.

Insights applicable to biological and artificial channels.

Abstract

Many biological channels perform highly selective transport without direct input of metabolic energy and without transitions from a 'closed' to an 'open' state during transport. Mechanisms of selectivity of such channels serve as an inspiration for creation of artificial nano-molecular sorting devices and bio-sensors. To elucidate the transport mechanisms, it is important to understand the transport on the single molecule level in the experimentally relevant regime when multiple particles are crowded in the channel. In this paper we analyze the effects of inter-particle crowding on the non-equilibrium transport times through a finite-length channel by means of analytical theory and computer simulations.