Ultrafast Active Water Pump Driven by Terahertz Electromagnetic Field

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel ultrafast water pump driven by terahertz electromagnetic waves, utilizing molecular dynamics simulations to achieve high conductivity and efficient water transport without external pressure.

Contribution

It introduces a new TEW-driven water pumping mechanism using resonance coupling in carbon nanotubes, enabling controllable, non-contact, large-scale water transport.

Findings

Achieved ultrafast conductivity of 9.5 /ns at 14 THz

Demonstrated resonance coupling enhances water molecule energy

Proposed a non-contact, controllable nanochannel pump

Abstract

The highly efficient, easy-to-implement, long-ranged and non-destructive way to realize active pumping has been still a great challenge. Here, using molecular dynamics simulations, terahertz electromagnetic wave (TEW) is firstly employed to stimulate an active pump for water transportation by biasedly irradiated in a (6,6) single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) under no external pressure gradient. It is found that an ultrafast conductivity (up to 9.5 /ns) through the pump around a characteristic frequency of 14 THz. The excellent pumping ability is attributed to the resonance coupling between the TEW and water molecules, in which water molecules can gain considerable energy continuously to break the binding of hydrogen bonds and the spatial symmetry. This proposed TEW-driven pump concept will offer a guide in polar molecule transport through artificial or biological nanochannels, particularly in a controllable, non-contact and large-scale process.